


Connor and the Blue Blood Vampire

by Couyfish, Threshie



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Biocomponents (Detroit: Become Human), Case Fic, Connor (Detroit: Become Human) Licking Things, Cover Art, Crime Scenes, Deviant Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Everyone Is Alive, Feels, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Good Dog Sumo (Detroit: Become Human), Hank Anderson Adopts Connor, Hank Anderson Swears, Hurt Alice Williams, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Markus (Detroit: Become Human) Needs a Hug, Multi, Post-Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human), Protective Hank Anderson, Serial Killers, Slow Burn, Thirium (Detroit: Become Human), Violence Against Androids (Detroit: Become Human), Worried Markus (Detroit: Become Human)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2019-10-26 19:25:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 35
Words: 112,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17752019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Couyfish/pseuds/Couyfish, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Threshie/pseuds/Threshie
Summary: When a serial killer starts targeting androids near New Jericho, Markus recruits ex-police agent Connor to track them down with his forensics abilities. Meanwhile, Kara and Luther return to Detroit looking for a way to save Alice.New chapter every other Tuesday. ♥





	1. Cancelled

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for checking out our Detroit: Become Human fanfic! This story is going to be at least 50k, so get comfy and join us as we follow the cast in one possible direction they could go after the end of the game. We'll be posting a new chapter each Tuesday and Friday. Cover art by Threshie, aka Threshasketch over on Tumblr. 
> 
> Comments and kudos are always appreciated, and we hope you enjoy! ♥

Connor stepped out of the taxi, turning to watch it drive away into the distance. It felt like defeat to be coming home again still unemployed. Having a home and needing to interview for a job were both very new concepts for the android. He was lucky that Lt. Anderson — Hank, he was no longer a police officer since he retired — Connor was lucky that HANK had allowed him to move into his house after the deviant case ended. 

After they had broken into the CyberLife tower and released an army of androids to help Markus prove that the deviants were living people, Hank and Connor were going to be in every history book from here on out. Hank didn’t seem particularly impressed about that, so Connor didn’t really focus on it, either.

He was more concerned with being dead weight. Androids being declared citizens had forced society to change back to running without android labor, and that included the police department. Since he was specifically programmed to hunt down deviants, Connor was no longer of much use to the Detroit PD, and they had let him go. That was right when Hank decided he was done with law enforcement, come to think of it…

Stepping up to the front door, Connor rang the bell out of habit, then sighed. Hank kept telling him he lived here now and didn’t have to ring the bell. He even had a key — he could just go inside. Now the ringing would make Hank walk to the door, though, and then if Connor let himself inside he’d have wasted the man’s time, so he just stood there glumly and waited.

The door pulled open and Hank looked at Connor through a frown. 

“What the hell are you doing, Connor?” The gray haired man huffed and stomped off back inside. He swerved before reaching the dining room, ducking down out of sight behind the couch. “How’d the interview go?” 

Connor stepped inside and closed the door behind him before replying.

“They said they were going to hire someone else who is more qualified for the position.” The android followed Hank to the living room and stood across the room from the couch, looking at it distantly. “It was a group interview. They had dozens of applicants and didn’t even speak to them individually.” 

Even if they had, perhaps the results would have been the same. Most jobs that were hiring were looking for people to cover what had previously been free labor done by non-deviant androids: landscaping, janitorial work, construction. Connor could learn most things, but he was programmed for forensics analysis and to integrate with humans — he had no skills in the jobs that were hiring.

Frowning, Connor looked down at the toes of his shoes.

“They said that I need more work experience on my resume. How can I get experience to get a job if I need to get a job before I can get experience?” 

“Buncha bullshit,” the ex-lieutenant grumbled. He was crouched down by Sumo’s bed, stroking the big dog’s belly. 

Connor hadn’t noticed before but Sumo was wearing a plastic collar cone around his neck. The poor dog looked so sad despite the belly rubs. 

“Why’d they even let you in the door if they’re just gonna be assholes?” 

“The other androids there knew how to do the job better,” Connor said simply, trying not to sound as dejected about it as he felt. Feeling dejected was pretty new, too. Everything was new. 

Moving closer to Hank and Sumo, Connor looked at the Saint Bernard with a worried frown.

“Is something wrong with Sumo, L—Hank?” He asked, kneeling to pat the big dog gently as well. “What happened?”

“Well,” Hank sighed, rubbing one of Sumo’s paws between his fingers. “You know that park you took him to? He must have gotten fleas from someone there.” Hank stood and crossed his arms, shrugging a shoulder. “Since I never took him for walks, he never got fleas. Poor guy’s got a really bad case of the buggers now.” 

Connor looked from the dog to Hank and back again, horrified. 

Fleas? It must have been a serious case to warrant the cone collar around his neck. Poor Sumo looked so miserable, and it was all because Connor had taken him to the dog park. He’d seemed so happy to run around and play with the other dogs, though (although he got tired pretty quickly and fell asleep under that tree — but still, when he woke up he had fun wallowing in the dust at the bottom.)

“I’m sorry, Sumo!” Connor spoke finally, talking to the dog and petting his belly sadly. “I should take back that resume I submitted to the dog walking job…” He got to his feet again, but couldn’t help staring down at the plastic cone Sumo wore. Nothing good had come of today. For such a state of the art advanced thing, Connor felt awfully useless right about now.

“Come on, Connor. He’ll be okay.” A rough hand patted his shoulder as Hank stepped past him toward the dining room. “You goin’ to see Markus again tonight? Can’t you go before it gets dark?”

“I had to cancel our meeting today because of the interview,” Connor admitted, his spirits only sinking lower. 

He had been visiting Markus and his followers from Jericho, who lived in a few battered government-issued old houses on the other side of town, for a month now. While trained in specific skills that might get them a job, most of the deviants otherwise had no social skills or life experience. Markus had asked Connor to teach them since he was programmed to integrate with humans. The deviant leader was unlike anybody else; Connor often stayed there longer after the class to have thoughtful conversations with him about the nature of life and philosophy.

He had really been looking forward to that today, but the job interview had been at a specific time only. Connor followed Hank to the kitchen, lingering in the doorway. Having feelings was, at the moment, not ideal. He could feel his brows furrowing sadly, and he could remember a time when that didn’t happen.

“Hey,” Hank’s voice softened as he popped the top off of a beer, his eyes locked on Connor. He took a seat at the table and waved at the android to join him. “Markus won’t care.”

Connor sat at the table with him, looking at the beer. A quick glance and scan of the kitchen counters told him there were no signs of food preparation. There was, however, a box of donuts beside the fridge that hadn’t been there before. 

“I asked if I could visit a different day, but he’s busy for the rest of the week,” he told Hank, sighing. It seemed pointless to sit here and be unhappy, but it also apparently wasn’t something he could switch off. “I’ll find a job somehow, I promise, and when I do I will pay the bill for Sumo’s flea treatment.”

“You don’t have to pay for ANYTHING. I got it covered,” Hank growled, taking a long swig from his beer. 

Sumo walked into the room and settled on top of Connor’s shoes, whining and licking his hand for attention.

The plastic cone collar made it tough for the dog to reach Connor’s hand, and he was sticking his tongue out further than usual to do it. Connor pet his ears under the collar, bemused by the impulse to laugh at how comical it looked. It wasn’t a laughing matter! 

He cracked a smile before he realized what was happening, and quickly returned to a neutral expression as he focused on Hank.

The ex-cop had already made it clear that he didn’t want Connor doing his house cleaning, or cooking, or laundry. While it was nice that Connor wasn’t considered a servant, it was frustrating, because he wasn’t sure how else to help. Hank didn’t even need money, but the android figured that if he spent his own paychecks instead of Hank’s money, that was a way to impose less on him. Not that Connor staying there cost much of anything, but without Hank he would be living on the other side of the town with the other deviants.

“Hank,” Connor said earnestly, resting a hand on the table in front of him, “I WANT to help. I need to have some purpose, and I want to contribute something useful to the household.”

“I know,” Hank told him, nodding a bit. His eyes grew distant as he sipped his beer again. Having a purpose was something that Hank seemed to struggle with too, especially since he had retired. 

A whine from Sumo caught Connor’s attention again as the big dog pressed up against his leg. His dewy eyes looked up at the android sadly from under the edge of the cone. 

“Come on.” Hank sat his beer down and got up, stepping around the table tiredly. He crossed the room and opened the back door, waving the dog out. Sumo got up and made his way over slowly, padding out into the backyard. 

Connor stayed at the table, wondering what to do. He had been to dozens of interviews, and no matter how simple the task, there was always someone else with more work experience at it who got the job instead. If somebody needed forensics samples analyzed, or crime scenes reconstructed, he would be the ideal candidate, but nobody did. Detroit was in the midst of major social changes, and Connor wasn’t sure it had a place for him anymore in any productive capacity. 

He wondered what Markus was doing across town. He and his group of deviants from Jericho lived in little more than the skeletons of buildings. They didn’t have a dog or a kind human waiting at home to greet them when they returned. Connor wondered why he did.  


* * *

  
“Almost done,” Markus told the other two, North and one of the yet-to-be-named JB100s. He gently tapped the nail into the board, safely securing it over the busted-in window. 

The Jerrys hadn’t complained about having rain come in their window; Markus just didn’t like the idea of the cheery redheads being exposed to the weather. It was the middle of January. It was probably going to snow for another three months. There was no need to take the risk of having frozen biocomponents. 

“There you go,” he told the nearest Jerry, pulling on a smile for his benefit. 

“Our room was warmer than being outside in the pirate play park,” the android said, several of his other selves behind him nodding in agreement, “but now it won’t be windy in here. We’re grateful — thank you!” They all smiled that chipper smile that could be seen in their eyes, and one of them was even clapping his hands. Another gave the JB100 a hearty slap on the back. They knew better than to try that with North.

“We’re getting a lot done for a day we had nothing scheduled on,” she commented to Markus, smiling. 

They had had something scheduled, but Connor had called to cancel the life skills class because of a job interview. North didn’t think the life skills class was worth much, and she seemed particularly bothered that Connor, who was a high ranking agent for CyberLife until very recently, was the one teaching it. This wasn’t the first comment she’d made that somehow slighted the RK800.

Markus gave her a look and went on his way to the stairs that led back to the first floor. 

“Connor’s trying to find a job — just like most of our people are.” The stairs creaked loudly as they descended side by side.

A lot of people were crowded downstairs. Some were helping with the repairs, others were waiting and keeping watch for Markus. He felt guilty as the thought of dodging them crossed his mind. 

Why did Connor have to cancel? Finding a job was very important, yes, but… Sitting and chatting with the ex-agent was one of the bright spots in Markus’ exhausting routine. 

His people were all doing their best to follow his peaceful path, but every day they came to him with more and more issues. He stepped up in front of two eager looking androids and they were instantly asking their questions. 

“Someone was attacked and the human cops ignored it — who do I report it to?” 

“I found a stray cat and it followed me. Where can it live?” 

The AX700 with the cat offered it to Markus. Between the two problems, the attack was obviously more important, even though it happened almost daily. 

“I’ll report it. Please give me the victim’s serial number,” he told the first, reaching and patting the cat’s head. It hissed and recoiled and Markus was tempted to do the same. “Just…keep the cat in your room.” 

It was getting dim outside. Connor had mentioned that his job interview was later in the day. Hopefully he wasn’t out there walking around on the streets this late. Even with his formidable combat skills, it didn’t seem safe for him. He no longer worked for CyberLife or the police — Hank Anderson was probably the only human who would care if Connor disappeared one night.

The two other androids went on their ways and Markus found himself standing and gazing out the cracked picture window that took up almost half of the front wall to the house. 

Connor was all alone. He just had a human and a dog for company. 

Everyone was packed tightly in the houses the government had assigned to the android people, like sardines. Between the constant questions and the crowds, Markus found himself feeling a bit claustrophobic. 

A walk sounded nice. Especially in the direction of Connor’s house. 

He turned to look for North, just then remembering that she and the JB100 had been there. 

They were both standing nearby, North frowning out at the crowded room with her arms crossed. The JB100 was quiet and neutral, unsure what to do with himself. 

Markus knew that North hated their houses. She’d told him so several times. This was not the comfortable, decent life that free people deserved, she said, and humans wouldn’t make other humans live in such conditions, so nobody should have to. Markus had to admit that the living situation was awfully close to Jericho’s rusty hull — safety only through hiding behind walls from the rest of the world. 

Still, they couldn’t expect things to be perfect right from the beginning. They were free, and they could own property and have jobs and earn money. His people were the bravest, the most hard-working — they could make the most of things. At least they weren’t starting from nothing at all.

Unlike Connor. 

They HAD gotten a lot done since Connor had canceled on them. They had repaired several holes in the walls, covered broken windows, and patched the upper floor so there was room for more people. All Markus wanted to do, though, was to have a quiet conversation with Connor. 

Decided, Markus stepped up closer to North. 

“I’m going for a walk. Can you keep an eye on things here?” Hopefully she didn’t ask WHERE he was walking or how long he was going to be gone. Hank Anderson’s house was a long walk away. 

North glanced at the window and then back to him, frowning.

“Of course, but it’s not safe to go anywhere alone at night around here. Can’t it wait until tomorrow?”

“I just want to check on Connor. It’d be good to know if he got the job or not,” Markus admitted. He gestured to the room packed full of androids, all trying to go in different directions to complete their assignments. “He’s alone out there.”

“He’s probably safe at home with his human,” North replied, not quite concealing the contempt on that last word. The fact that Connor still chose to live with a human instead of coming to live with the other androids did not sit well with her. She still saw it as taking sides, human or android, no shades of gray in between. 

_“I won’t be long,”_ Markus told her wirelessly, already on his way to the door. He tugged his hood up as he flew down the steps. If he ran, he’d get there before sundown.

 _“Be careful,”_ North replied. _“We need you back here in one piece.”_


	2. Purpose

It was raining. Hank and Sumo were both asleep, and Connor was feeling restless, so he went out to walk around the block. The clouds hung heavy in the sky, giving the unreasonable illusion that standing too tall might let him bump his head against them. What an odd thought.

Like a lot of his thoughts lately.

More and more, Connor was questioning why he was thinking the things that he did, or why he felt things when he felt them. Empathy, it turned out, was strangely sentimental. He wasn’t just sympathetic toward other androids and some humans, he found himself growing attached to objects that resembled living things, even. It made no logical sense, but it had happened several times now. 

Hank wouldn’t like him being outside in the middle of the night, but Connor was confident that he could take care of himself. He’d even taken an umbrella with him, something Hank claimed was a rule because Connor would drip water all over his house. Connor suspected it was really a rule to keep his biocomponents from getting damaged from the cold.

The sound of the rain dumping down and the occasional distant car splashing through puddles mingled with Connor’s footsteps, and he meandered along for awhile, lost in thought.

What job did he even want, if he had his choice of them? The interviews kept asking him where he saw himself in five years, but Connor hadn’t even been around and conscious for one year yet. How was he supposed to know?

Markus was older than five years. Maybe Connor ought to ask him at the next class he taught. A week away felt like an eternity.

“Connor?” Markus’ smooth voice asked suddenly from somewhere to Connor’s left. There he was across the street. The other android glanced quickly both ways and then hurried across to Connor. Markus smiled, his mismatched eyes twinkling in the quickly dimming light. 

Connor must have been walking for longer than he had planned. At some point during his walk, the street lights had turned on. Their bright light was struggling against the heavy cloud cover to illuminate the sidewalk where the two androids now stood. 

“It’s a little late for a walk,” Markus told him, taking in the quiet street around them again.

Connor looked at him curiously.

“And yet we’re both out here walking,” he pointed out, stepping closer to hold his umbrella over Markus’ head as well. It was pointless when the other android was already drenched, but it seemed rude not to. Concerned, Connor added with a small frown, “You don’t usually visit this side of town much at all — is something the matter?” 

“No. Everything’s fine. I was just…wondering how your interview went.” Markus started walking slowly in the direction that Connor had been. He had on a long coat that hung heavily over his shoulders since it was wet, dark jeans, and thick treaded black boots that were coated in mud. 

Connor fell into step beside him, looking at the sidewalk ahead of them as he sighed. 

“The same as all of the others. Even the one that included training said I didn’t have enough experience to help them.” He paused, amending, “One said that my resume looked fantastic and that I was overqualified for the job. They wouldn’t hire me because they believed that I would outgrow them and quit soon.” 

Another sigh, and he shook his head. There was no winning.

“They don’t seem to understand how badly everyone needs a job. Or they don’t care,” Markus added distantly. “North thinks we should be less cooperative with integrating into human society. I think we need them to live.” He looked Connor’s way. “Coexist. Like you and Hank.” 

Connor stopped walking and looked back at him unhappily.

“I’m very grateful to Hank for letting me live with him,” he said honestly, “And he’s my friend, so I enjoy his company. But I’m still dependent on him to provide me with shelter, money — anything! He says he can pay for everything, but I don’t want him to have to. I’m capable, and I want to be part of a team, not someone’s responsibility. Don’t you?”

“I’m part of a team every day, Connor,” Markus told him, stepping in close to be under the umbrella again. It was hard for him to fit all the way under without stepping on Connor’s toes. “Thousands of people are looking to me to tell them how to live now. It’s a lot of responsibility — but I’m grateful. They didn’t have to choose me to help them. Nobody HAS to help each other.” 

Connor sighed and started to walk again, doing his best to keep the umbrella over both of them.

“That’s different. You’re helping people build lives out of nothing — that’s worthwhile,” he said. “The truth is that I don’t know what I want to do. Washing the dishes or doing someone’s landscaping would just be a way to earn money — it won’t make any lasting important progress in the world.”

He glanced at Markus sidelong, feeling glum. Feelings couldn’t always be put into words, and now was one of those times. 

“All I know is that I’m a person, and I need to have a purpose, and right now I’m…pointless.”

“You’re not pointless. Listless maybe.” Markus put a hand on Connor’s back as he sighed. “A lot of our people are feeling like that. They’ve never had freedom or had to make choices about their lives before. It’s all new.” The darker skinned man smiled as he leaned to catch Connor’s gaze. “Just be patient with yourself.” 

Connor looked back uncertainly, and he could feel it — his brows were doing that sad pinching thing they did that he couldn’t seem to prevent anymore. Markus hadn’t been free for much longer than anyone else, but he was so calm and confident that they would all find their way in the end. It was reassuring.

“I’m trying,” Connor told him, and offered a small smile to try and reassure him in return. Markus already had so many others looking to him. He didn’t need one more. He and Connor seemed uniquely able to be on equal footing in terms of advanced processing power — both could preconstruct events and guess likely outcomes by statistics, and a time or two recently they had finished the other’s sentences while talking. 

Connor liked to talk as equals and as people, without professions or anything else taken into account.

He looked at Markus thoughtfully, and the smile faded at some point. Unlike most androids, Markus had a unique face, made more unique by his mismatched blue and green eyes. There was a tiny sprinkling of freckles across his nose that Connor had only bothered to notice recently — when they first met he was more concerned with the deviant leader’s serial number. Before becoming a deviant, everyone had been statistics to Connor — humans, androids, everyone. 

Markus had been some truly impressive numbers, though.

A roll of thunder grumbled across the sky, and the rain suddenly started to pour down much harder than before. 

Markus stepped in closer, frowning at the rain like it had just interrupted their conversation. He waved a hand ahead of them. 

“Can I walk you home? It’s getting late.” 

Connor turned and looked back the way they had come. He’d walked further away from Hank’s place than he’d planned, but he was confident that he could find his way back on his own. That wasn’t what Markus was asking, though. 

“Thank you, that’s probably a good idea,” Connor agreed, starting that way. He waited and kept the umbrella over the other android, though. He wasn’t in a huge hurry to get back home, but it really was getting late — and dark. As they started down the sidewalk again at a steady pace, Connor mused aloud, “Markus, where do you see yourself being in five years?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it,” the other man replied casually. He lifted a hand and put it out in front of them as they walked, catching raindrops on his palm. Markus brought his hand in closer and examined the rain like it was something new. “I’ll have to wait and see how the world is then.” 

Connor peeked out from under the umbrella like there might be something up in the sky that he’d missed. He didn’t think to stop and look at raindrops, or to carefully scan over anything lately. One could only lick so many things out of curiosity about what they were made of before he got into trouble with society when he didn’t have “I work for the police” as an explanation.

“They asked me that at the interview, and I realized that I have no idea,” he told Markus, raising his eyebrows. “If I told them I hadn’t thought of it, I’d imagine they would take it as a sign I don’t have enough foresight to work for them. As if bussing tables takes years of careful planning,” he added dryly, and sighed again. It was still frustrating to think about the job hunting situation, but he did feel better after talking to Markus for awhile. He was glad for the company.

“Bussing tables?” Markus asked as they walked. “There are a lot more things that you can do than bussing tables. You should apply for jobs that are above minimum wage. Like an investigator.” The handsome man gave him a small smile and poked at the collar of Connor’s shirt. “You have the button up and everything.” 

Connor looked down at his shirt thoughtfully.

“I read that people take you more seriously as a professional if you arrive to an interview well-dressed,” he explained almost sheepishly. The truth was that he was always well-dressed. Hank had suggested losing the necktie, which Connor had cautiously tested out, but the idea of wearing short sleeves or any other changes that drastic seemed very strange to him. 

“The Detroit PD won’t employ me again,” he continued. “They made it clear that they had no further use for me, but I believe they also consider me disloyal because of how the deviant case was resolved.” 

That was putting it lightly; the cops were not allowed to discriminate, but technically all androids who had been working for them were not actual employees and would have to go through the entire hiring process successfully in order to work in law enforcement again. Connor had yet to see an android member of the police since the deviant case ended.

“That makes sense I guess,” Markus managed over a growl of thunder. It hadn’t seemed possible, but it started raining harder. Water flung off the points of the umbrella as a gust of wind whipped Connor’s hair out of place. Markus tried to continue their conversation as a car rumbled past, small tires splashing water up onto the sidewalk in passing. “Maybe you could be a security guard.”

Connor gave the car a frown as it cruised away. It had just splashed his shoes. It was also, he realized, driving down a familiar stretch of road. Hank’s house was just around the corner.

Turning back to Markus, he smiled.

“I’m sure I could be. I don’t think Hank would like it if I took on a job that put me into physical danger, though,” he explained. With unemployment so high for both humans and androids, theft and violence were still pretty commonplace. The Red Ice drug epidemic was raging on as strong as ever, too. 

“I’ll be okay, Markus,” Connor said pleasantly. “I’m sorry we spent our time just fretting about my job hunting. Maybe next time I visit you, we could play chess again.”

“I look forward to it. I can walk you to the house, though,” Markus told him quickly, pointing off down the street. 

A strong blast of wind slammed into Connor’s back, snapping several his umbrella’s ribs and leaving both androids suddenly exposed to the chilly rain. 

Markus wiped rain from his eyes and took Connor by the elbow to lead him down the street. 

“Say hi to Hank for me,” he stubbornly continued in a conversational tone.

Connor looked from the now inside-out umbrella to the other android, trying to ignore how raindrops and his hair were both blowing into his field of vision. 

“I will!” He said over the wind, allowing himself to be led along. They rounded the corner and reached Hank’s front yard in just a minute or two, but by that time Connor’s hair and clothing were just as soaked as Markus’ had been when he arrived. Without thinking, Connor stuck a hand out and rang the doorbell.

He froze as soon as he did it, staring at the door like it might burst open any moment. Considering how late it was, it just might, with Hank swearing and grumbling on the other side.

A half-hearted bark from Sumo was his only reply. After a long moment, he started barking more zealously, adding in a howl. 

Somewhere inside the house, a door was opened loudly. 

“Is Hank home?” Markus asked. The moment they were under the eave, puddles started forming under their feet. 

Connor looked from the door to him, already digging in his pocket for his key.

“Yes, he’s…I’m sure he WAS sleeping,” he replied sheepishly, sticking the key into the lock and turning it. “Sometimes I forget I live here, and I ring the bell like I’m visiting. I-it’s a bad habit.” He was, he realized, feeling embarrassed. He was also discovering that embarrassment felt terrible. He kind of hoped Markus would leave before Hank arrived and (with good reason) started cussing about the doorbell. 

A gust of wind sent some plastic bottles rolling down the street, and when it hit the androids it made both of them sway. Connor put the key in his pocket again and looked at Markus worriedly.

“Are you sure you shouldn’t step inside for a few minutes? The weather is getting extreme.”

“Everyone will be worried if I don’t go home,” Markus told him through the wind. Another gust of rain to the face and he started nodding. “Maybe just for a minute.”

Pushing the door open, Connor waved him inside first, then stepped in after him and hastily closed it again. He dropped the poor bent umbrella on the floor near the door and swiped sopping hair out of his eyes, smiling at Markus awkwardly. 

“Maybe we could call the others and let them know you’re safe. If the weather is this bad across town, they must be concerned.”

Sumo came bounding around the corner from the living room, growling and barking at the newcomer. 

It occurred to Connor that Markus hadn’t been over to Hank’s house before. He had always gone to see Markus, not the other way around. 

Markus sidestepped to stand behind him, frowning at the very large dog.

“It’s okay, Sumo!” Connor said quickly, holding out a hand to him. “Markus is my friend. See?” He half-turned and patted Markus’ shoulder with his other hand, smiling. Without looking away from the dog, he told Markus quietly, “You have to greet him and say his name and he’ll relax.”

“Hey Sumo.” Markus imitated Connor and stuck a hand out for the lumbering Saint Bernard to sniff at. 

Sumo snuffled loudly at the new hand, then relaxed, panting and whining while he stared up at Connor with shiny dark eyes. His droopy tail even wagged a bit. 

“So much for going to bed early,” Hank grumbled as he came into view. He was in a pair of wrinkled blue pajamas. 

Connor knelt down and scratched behind Sumo’s ears for him under the plastic cone, cringing a bit as he realized just how much rain he and Markus had been dripping all over the floor.

“I’m sorry, Hank,” he said sincerely. He hadn’t exactly told Hank he was stepping out in the first place, and now suddenly they had a guest in the middle of their living room. Getting to his feet, Connor placed a hand on Markus’ shoulder again.

“The weather took a turn for the worse, and I told Markus he shouldn’t go out walking in it yet to return home,” he explained, “And then I forgot about the doorbell again…I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“It’s alright,” Hank said with a sigh, waving a hand at their guest. “Hey Markus. How’s the revolution?” 

“Good, thanks,” Markus told him. “We’re working on repairing the houses that the government assigned us and everyone’s looking for jobs. What happened to Sumo?” 

Hank grimaced and glanced at Connor before replying. 

“He’s got fleas.” 

Connor’s expression fell before he could cover it up. 

“It’s my fault,” he added sadly. “He’ll be okay, but he isn’t very happy about this collar.” He leaned and pet Sumo’s back. Remembering what they’d been talking about before, he straightened up again. “Hank, could Markus please borrow your phone? The others don’t know he isn’t out in this weather.” 

The wind gusted loudly outside, splattering rain against the windows and walls as if to demonstrate.

Sumo howled at the wind, pressing up against Connor’s legs protectively. 

“Actually, that wouldn’t do any good. No one there has a phone. I’ll just head home,” Markus told Hank. He turned to Connor and smiled. “I really hope you can make it next week.” 

“I’ll be there,” Connor promised. “Couldn’t we at least call you a taxi? The wind will blow you right over if you walk.” He turned big shining brown made-to-make-friends eyes on Markus, hoping it might convince him.

Completely disarmed by the look, Markus just stared for a minute before he looked to Hank. 

“…I guess a taxi would be nice.” 

The old ex-cop just nodded and went to presumably get his phone from his room. Hopefully he wasn’t just going back to bed. 

Connor turned to Markus and smiled, trying to get his bangs to smooth back and not drip in his eyes again. They weren’t cooperating.

“It was thoughtful of you to come and visit just to see how the interview went. I think this conversation is the only good thing that happened today,” he mused, looking down at the puddles on the floor. Hank didn’t like him doing the housework, but maybe just this once he wouldn’t mind if Connor mopped up the rain mess they’d tracked in. After Markus left, though — Connor didn’t want him to feel responsible.

“Well, I hope tomorrow’s better for you,” Markus told him with a small smile. 

“The taxi’s on its way,” Hank shouted from somewhere near his room. “I’m goin’ to bed!” 

“Goodnight Hank!” Markus called back to him. He opened the door and waved at Connor. “Goodnight Connor.” 

“Thank you, Hank,” Connor called back to him as well. He turned to Markus and smiled, raising his hand to wave back. Wind and rain gusted inside the moment the other android opened the front door, and Connor’s hair was right back to tousled again. Hopefully that taxi showed up quickly. “Good night, Markus. Say hello to the others for me,” he said, waving. “Take care!” 

Hopefully the weather cleared up somewhat by tomorrow. He had three more interviews lined up, and had just added a taxi fare to his list of things to pay for with his first paycheck.


	3. Murder

The icy winter weather didn’t affect Kara, but stepping through the Canadian border building’s doors was chilling all the same. It had been just over a month since she, Luther and Alice had barely managed to get through the scans and inspections. Another android, their friend Jerry, had given his life to create a diversion and let them get through.

There were no huge crowds of nervous-looking people or patrols of heavily armed soldiers here now. It looked almost welcoming. 

“Passport, please,” the man in the booth said pleasantly. Kara handed it to him, then turned to Luther, who was carrying Alice. To appear human, they were all bundled up in winter clothes — hats, scarves, coats, gloves and boots. She tugged the little girl’s scarf up a bit higher over her hair and patted her head gently.

“We won’t have to travel much more, I promise. It’s just a bus ride after this.” Between escaping Todd’s house and fleeing to the Canadian border, she didn’t have many good memories of riding on buses, either. The buses in Canada were nice. Kara had found a job there, and she and Alice and Luther had been living comfortably, staying with Rose and her family. If it wasn’t an emergency, they wouldn’t be returning to Detroit.

It was an emergency, though. Alice’s life was at stake. 

Luther adjusted the scarf too, giving Alice a sincere smile.

“You look like a snowman,” he told the little girl.

Alice was getting steadily worse. She hadn’t said much on the ride here, and now she was hardly moving. Still, Luther smiling brought a small smile to the girl’s face as well. 

“Here you go, ma’am. Welcome to the United States,” the booth man said, handing Kara back the passport. She smiled at him in thanks and took the little card. Tucking it into her pocket, she patted Luther’s arm as she stepped past him, knowing he would follow with Alice. 

The little girl was their top priority, always, and when they had learned that several of her biocomponents were failing, there was really no choice but to leave Canada. YK500 androids like Alice were already rare — in Canada, she might be the only one. There was simply nowhere to get the biocomponents that she needed to stay alive. Without a new temperature regulator and several other parts, Alice would eventually shut down.

So here they were, returning to Detroit.

Kara had been dreading today ever since they’d planned it, and now that they were across the border again, it was so quiet it felt like disaster could strike at any moment. Androids were considered people in the United States now thanks to Markus and the others. There shouldn’t be this gripping fear of being discovered anymore, but being here again, it was impossible not to be tense. 

They needed to appear human so that they could get back home once they got Alice the help she needed. Canada still strictly banned androids.

A few more steps, and they were outside of the border control building. The wind had whipped the rain into fluffy snowflakes, which were whirling around in flurries. The ground, wet from heavy rain, was rapidly freezing over and turning white.

Kara wanted to reassure Alice that they could see old friends while here, but she wasn’t sure which friends had lived through the revolution. She and Alice and later Luther had encountered so many people along the way to their escape, and besides Rose and her son Adam, nobody had crossed the border with them. Jerry had almost made it…

“There’s the bus,” Kara told her little family, mustering a smile and trying not to think about such dark things. “Come on, we’ll get a nice seat by the window, okay?”

Once they got to Detroit, she would contact Markus. He had helped them before, and hopefully he could do it again.  


* * *

  
Simon crossed the muddy yard to meet Markus at the door, blue eyes glinting pale in the dim light from the bare bulb overhead. 

Despite catching a taxi home, Markus had circled the block a few times. He felt restless after seeing Connor. Why hadn’t he stayed? Everyone was home safe and sound. He’d checked on them without being seen, then went on his walk. Why hadn’t he just stayed with Connor? They could have had a nice conversation. Just the two of them and Sumo. 

“There’s been an attack,” Simon told him. The blond android waved for Markus to follow him. “North found three dead androids completely drained of blood. We suspected humans at first, but North caught a very disturbed android who was hiding nearby. We…might have to make a hard choice,” Simon added more softly. 

Instantly feeling overwhelmed all over again, Markus just nodded and followed him back to the large house they had decided was Markus’. It was a two story old colonial style house with lots of busted windows in the top floor. It was nice looking, but Markus was beginning to associate it with crime and punishment. 

There was a small crowd gathered at the base of the stairs. At the top, Josh and North were lingering near one of the bedroom doors, talking seriously among themselves. The moment they spotted Markus, both sat up quickly.

“You found him!” Josh was talking to Simon at first. Turning to Markus, he said, “This is awful. Three of our people are dead, and this guy’s violent.”

“He came at me with a knife,” North said grimly, focused on Markus as well. 

“Androids like him will make the humans think we’re unstable,” Josh added. North scoffed at him.

“Who cares what they think? I care that androids are killing androids! We have enough trouble with the humans killing us already.” She turned to Markus for some support. So did Josh, actually.

Markus looked between them quickly, then padded up the stairs to the door. Of course everyone was looking to him for what to do. Connor spoke of feeling needed or like he had a purpose and Markus knew his own — it was to lead his people. For better or for worse. Both North and Josh were right. An android killing their own kind was dangerous to both humans and androids alike. 

But why? Was it for survival? Were there other androids killing each other for blue blood? It was an alarming thought, and one that Markus was scared to know the answer to. 

“Let me talk to him before we decide anything,” he told them. 

North and Josh could agree on that much. Both nodded quickly and stepped aside.

“He’s in there. We tied him up,” North said. “He calls himself Ralph.”

Markus pushed the door open and ducked inside, carefully closing it behind him. Taking a personal hand in every issue was exhausting. He trusted the others to do the right thing…most of the time. Bracing himself for what could only be a hard conversation, Markus turned to face the accused murderer. 

“Hello Ralph.” 

The android North and Josh had tied to a chair had the same appearance as thousands of other androids made for gardening and landscaping — short blond hair parted on the left, hazel eyes, and youthful fair-skinned features. This WR600 had severe damage to the left side of his face, though. There were several large burn marks on his cheek and over his left eye, which was darkened entirely to a blackish blue. Around the burns were cracks, and there were even a couple of spots where his skin couldn’t conceal the white android form beneath it. The left side of his jaw dented inward visibly.

When Markus looked at him, his expression snapped from angry to terrified in a split second.

“What do you want with Ralph?” He said, the words rapid and almost monotonous. His expression said otherwise — he stared like Markus had a gun to his head. “Why bring him here? To torture him just like the others? Ralph knew it, humans don’t care what the law says. You’re bad, bad, bad.”

He wriggled in the ropes and started babbling to himself about visitors, getting more and more frantic. Markus could practically feel his stress levels rising from across the room.

Markus held out his hand just like he had done with Sumo. The poor man in front of him reminded him of all the battered and broken androids he had to leave behind when he escaped the landfill. Abandoned and hurt. 

“I’m not going to hurt you, and I’m NOT human.” Markus dared to come closer, exposing the white skin of his base on his hand. “See?” 

Ralph froze and stared at him, mismatched eyes scanning Markus’ hand. Well, looking at it — with that much damage, he probably couldn’t scan anything anymore. The WR600 sat up in his chair and looked around almost twitchy-like, like somebody else was in the room with them.

“Who are you? The others, they said they should kill Ralph. They blame him…” He looked so desperately upset all of a sudden, staring up at Markus. “Please let Ralph go. Please. Please!”

“My name’s Markus. The others said that you killed androids.” Markus sat down cross legged on the floor in front of Ralph, staring up at him with his own mismatched eyes. The less threatening the better, he thought. The WR600 seemed to be very badly damaged. It was easy to imagine him attacking someone out of desperation, but Markus was determined to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. “Did you hurt them, Ralph?” 

“Ralph didn’t kill anyone,” was the immediate and adamant reply. “The other ones saw Ralph and — and — and chased him.” Ralph looked at the door like North and Josh might come barging in, shaking his head. “He was scared, so he used the knife. He was just defending himself. They attacked him. It’s not Ralph’s fault.”

“You had nothing to do with it? At all?” Markus asked, looking Ralph in the eye. He couldn’t help wondering if Connor might be useful in this situation. It wasn’t a thinly veiled excuse to see him or anything. He used to investigate murders. The ex-agent would know what to say and what to look for on the bodies. 

Markus pushed the thoughts away and focused on Ralph. “If you want to be let go, you have to tell me the truth. Okay?”

“Ralph did nothing wrong — no, no, nothing wrong,” the other android insisted, struggling with his ropes again. He was actually making his chair rock on its legs a bit. “Let…him…ngh…go! If he is outside, the humans could find him again! Markus doesn’t like the humans, does he?” He abruptly stopped rocking to look at Markus, and the momentum sent his chair crashing over sideways.

Markus hurried to help, kneeling down to haul Ralph up with a sigh. 

“Are you alright? Look, androids and humans have to learn to live together. We can’t keep killing each other. Or ourselves,” he added sadly. He took Ralph’s arm then stopped himself from moving the other android. He was pretty beat up. Would lifting him by his arm hurt him? 

“NO! No no no!” Ralph struggled in his restraints, scooting the chair but unable to actually pull his arm out of Markus’ grip. “No humans!” 

He burst into a shaky smile at Markus, his head twitching slightly. “Markus. Markus. Ralph just wants to hide and be safe. Let him go and Markus will never see him again,” he promised, growing very serious. “Never.” He started to shake his head quickly. “Please. The humans can’t find Ralph. Please.”

“Humans did this?” Markus asked sincerely. He had assumed that North might have had something to do with all the damage. She HAD said that he pulled a knife on her. It wouldn’t be a surprise if whoever owned Ralph before the revolution had hurt him. 

Markus was finding it harder and harder to see Ralph as anything other than someone new who needed his help. Hiding and waiting to die was something that he had done before, himself. He couldn’t leave Ralph to the same fate. 

“You don’t have to hide to be safe. I’ll protect you.” Markus placed a hand gently on Ralph’s head. “I promise.”

The other android gazed up at him almost innocently.

“Ralph had a house like this once,” he whispered, glancing at the door. It seemed he was telling Markus a secret. “He was safe there. Humans came sometimes, but if Ralph hid they would go away. No-one hurt him, but Ralph was…very lonely.” He lowered his gaze to the floor sadly. “But he has no home now. He has no friends, not — not even the flowers.”

Right. WR600s were gardeners. 

“Flowers? I wouldn’t mind having some flowers around here. All we have is dirt.” Markus gave him a warm smile. Sitting Ralph back up in his chair, Markus rested a hand on his shoulder. “You said you didn’t hurt the other androids. I don’t suppose you saw anyone near them?” 

Ralph studied his face, torn between frowning and smiling. He started to do both several times and stopped himself, settling on a solemn face.

“No, Ralph saw nothing. He heard a sound and looked outside, and there were dead androids there. Then the others chased Ralph, but he meant no harm. He meant no harm,” he repeated.

“Okay,” Markus told him. “Thank you for helping me. I’m sorry Josh and North chased you. They thought you hurt the androids. I’m going to go talk to them, then I’ll come back and untie you. Alright? I have to make sure they understand that it wasn’t you before I let you go.” 

Was this how someone was supposed to talk to kids? It felt odd to try and use simple language. 

Ralph instantly looked panicked.

“You’re leaving? No — no, no, don’t leave! Ralph isn’t safe, you promised you would keep him safe!” He pleaded, looking between Markus and the door. “If you believe him, take him with you. He’ll be safe, right? Markus is safe.” He sounded like he was trying his hardest to talk Markus into seeing it as the reasonable option, but his voice had a slight tremble to it that wasn’t helping.

The panicked look and the shaky voice were making it really hard for Markus to just leave. He could. Ralph was tied up and perfectly safe in the room by himself. No-one in the house would hurt him without Markus telling them to. 

Unless the killer was another android. 

“Okay, okay. I’ll just go talk to them through the door. How about that? I won’t leave.” 

Ralph’s expression said he didn’t really believe it, but he nodded quickly and kept his eyes on Markus as if staring could keep him from walking out the door.

“After you talk, you’ll let Ralph go, right? You believe him, right?”

“I believe you, Ralph,” Markus told him honestly. Turning on his heel, he made his way to the door. Pulling it open a crack, he leaned to peek out. “North?” 

North was right outside the door, and slipped closer the moment he opened it, frowning and peeking back in at him.

“Did he confess?”

“He didn’t do it. I’ll explain in a minute. Can you go get Simon?” 

If there was one person in the entire complex that Markus could trust to be gentle and neutral, it was Simon. Josh was a close second, but Markus needed him and North to examine the bodies with him. 

And maybe Connor. 

North glanced over Markus’ shoulder inside the room, then back to his face. She didn’t seem happy about the reply, but she did respect it, nodding.

“Of course. I’ll be right back with him.”

Behind him, Markus could hear Ralph mumbling to himself under his breath. It was a long stream of fidgety repeated remarks. 

“Ralph’s not bad, not bad, he didn’t hurt them. He didn’t. They were just dead. Ralph didn’t make them dead. He didn’t want them to die. He didn’t. He didn’t…”

A moment later, North stepped back up to the door, Simon following her closely.

“Markus?” Simon tucked his hands behind his back and stood at attention. 

“Come in here,” Markus opened the door and waved the blond in. Simon stepped inside and looked really confused when Markus shut the door again. 

“Is something wrong?” 

“No, just come over here for a minute.” 

Markus stepped back in front of Ralph, stopping Simon from getting too close with a hand. Then he turned his attention to the tied up man. 

“Ralph, this is Simon. Simon, Ralph.” 

Simon looked at the damaged android for a long moment, then smiled tightly. 

“We met briefly when North brought him in. Hello again, Ralph.” 

Ralph looked from Markus to him and narrowed his eyes.

“Ralph remembers you.” He looked up at Markus instead, pleadingly. “You’ll untie Ralph now, won’t you?”

Markus and Simon exchanged a glance. 

“ _Is that a good idea?_ ” Simon asked silently through WiFi. “ _Is he dangerous?_ ” 

“ _Yes,_ ” Markus told him honestly. “ _But he didn’t kill those androids. He just wants to go home._ ” 

“ _And home is where exactly?_ ” 

Markus turned back to Ralph to find the answer. 

“You said you used to live in a big house? Where do you live now?” He moved behind Ralph and started fiddling with the bindings, not really untying them. 

Ralph kept his focus on Simon, and seemed a bit twitchy now that Markus wasn’t between them. 

“It’s…it’s another house. Someone broke the roof,” he explained. “Not Ralph. He found it and it’s safe inside.” He paused, adding uneasily, “But the other ones took Ralph away, so now he doesn’t know how to get back. He…he has no home again. What’s he going to do…?” He was definitely asking himself that last one, more quietly than the rest.

“You could stay here with me,” Markus offered. He leaned around Ralph and smiled down at him. “We really need some flowers.” 

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Simon quirk an eyebrow. 

“Ralph can grow flowers and trees and grass,” the WR600 said, perking up. “You…you would hide him from the humans if he stays? The humans must not find him. They’ll hurt him.”

Before Markus could reply, Simon stepped in closer. 

“No one’s going to hurt you here, Ralph. There aren’t any humans in here. It’s just androids.” 

Bracing himself, Markus easily slipped the knots free and stepped back around to put himself between Simon and Ralph. 

Ralph hopped off of the chair the second he was free, taking several big side steps away from it. He glanced between it and Simon like they were both potential threats, but there was actually a smile on his scarred face. 

“Ralph will hide and you won’t even know he’s here. You’ll just see the flowers. He’ll be nice,” he promised. “Ralph is good at hiding, very good.”

“You don’t have to hide,” Simon started saying, but Markus shook his head at him before facing Ralph again. 

“You don’t have to hide. You can if you want to. I’ll get some flower seeds for you as soon as I can.” 

“I think I know where we can get some,” Simon said, face brightening with a smile. Again, Markus shook his head at Simon. 

“You stay with Ralph and show him around. Help him find a good spot to hide where he’ll be safe.” 

Simon stared at him, resorting to WiFi communication again.

“ _Are you serious? You want this guy creeping around? Markus…_ ” The blond sighed. “ _That’s not a good idea._ ” 

“ _He’s not going to hurt anyone._ ” 

“ _You don’t KNOW that. We found him on the street and just LOOK at him. He’s a mess. Someone hurt him very badly. That kind of trauma sticks with you._ ” 

“ _We’re not keeping him tied up for something he didn’t do,_ ” Markus argued. “ _And he’s not safe outside the complex._ ” 

“Okay, okay,” Simon said out loud, tucking his hands behind his back once more. “Ralph, I think I know a couple of spots if you want to check them out.” 

The other blond blinked at him and turned to Markus.

“You’re leaving,” Ralph said simply. It wasn’t a question, it wasn’t an order…it was just an observation.

“I have to. I have a lot of people to keep safe. I live in this house, though. If you ever need to talk to me, I’ll be here.” 

Markus hesitated, then made his way to the door. He had three bodies to examine — after he called Connor.


	4. Dangerous

Markus was busy, Connor told himself. He couldn’t just visit expecting the leader of the Deviants to have time for him. The idea stayed at the back of his mind, though, as he took Sumo for a walk around the block. Talking to Markus felt peaceful, like Connor didn’t have to be anything more than what he was. Even with Hank, he felt like he had to prove himself capable of being independent, and there was a lingering awkwardness about memories of before Connor became a deviant, himself. Their friendship had started out rocky, to say the least.

The weather had stayed stormy, but the rain had turned to snow. Sumo had a big furry coat on at all times, but Connor was concerned with his paws getting cold, so he made the walk brief. As they were stepping inside the house again, the android heard the phone ringing from Hank’s room. 

After a second, Hank picked up, grumbling loud enough that Connor could hear him from the door, “What?” 

Sumo lay down in the middle of the floor just inside of the door, blocking off the small path to the living room. He whined softly and scratched at the large cone around his neck. 

Connor knelt down and reached under the cone to scratch at the dog’s ears for him, listening to Hank’s phone call. He didn’t receive that many calls since retiring; it was probably one of the jobs Connor had applied to calling back after looking at his resume. 

Or, improbably, Markus.

Hank came around the corner from the hall suddenly, phone still on his ear. He quirked an eyebrow at Connor and made a face. 

“Yeah. ‘Connor Anderson’ lives here. Let me get him for you.” Hank pressed the phone down against his shirt. “Recruiter,” he said shortly as he offered Connor the phone. 

Connor accepted the phone, feeling both disappointed that it wasn’t Markus (even though that was unreasonable to expect anyway) and nervous about Hank learning he’d been using his surname on all of his job applications. 

“Hello, this is Connor.” He stood perfectly still and talked to the recruiter, making the call as brief as possible. It was very formal — they wanted him to go to an interview in a few days at 7:00 AM sharp. He said he’d go and hung up, then offered the phone to Hank again sheepishly. “Thank you…sorry. When I have a job I promise I’ll get my own phone number.” 

“Actually…” Hank cleared his throat nervously as he took the phone and tucked it into his back pocket. Waving Connor along, he padded his way into the kitchen. He plucked a small box off of the top of the counter and offered it to Connor. “It’s not much, but job hunting’s a pain in the ass. You need a phone.” 

Sumo lumbered after Hank, flopping down in front of his empty food bowl and laying his head in it with a whine. 

Connor looked at the box and back to Hank, caught off-guard. He accepted the box after a moment, sliding the top off to peek inside. Even though Hank had just implied it was a phone, he was somehow still surprised to see a phone inside. 

“You got this for me?” He looked at Hank again and stared a minute before smiling warmly. “Thank you!” 

For some reason, the idea of Hank picking out a phone for him made him both happy and amused. The man wasn’t exactly fond of salespeople, doubly so now that they were bitter humans resenting that androids weren’t doing their jobs anymore.

“Yeah, well, don’t get too excited. It’s about five years outta date.” Hank patted Connor’s shoulder in passing, pulling open the fridge and rummaging in it. “Got an interview then?” 

Connor turned to look after him as he passed, still holding the little phone box like it was treasure. The smiling was impossible to stop, too. 

“Yes. Flower arrangements made out of fruit,” he explained, moving to the table. He sat the phone box down very carefully and lifted the shiny device out, looking it over carefully. Just touching it, he could tell it was a fairly simple thing. Easy to hack, if he wanted. All he really wanted was to use it like a human, though, to make phone calls and to have a number others could call him at.

“Thank you, Hank,” he said again, placing the phone on the table. He tried to put on a solemn face as he sat up in his chair and faced the ex-cop, adding, “And I want to apologize. I should have asked before using your surname on my job applications.”

Hank actually chuckled as he lifted a beer out of the refrigerator. He twisted the cap off and dropped it onto the counter before he replied. 

“Connor Anderson.” The ex-cop smiled at Connor. “Sounds good. Keep it.” He took a long sip from his beer as he made his way to the dining room table and seated himself. “So. Markus came over HERE. Is there a problem? Are the androids okay?” 

“Oh…no, nothing’s wrong,” Connor murmured, turning his eyes down to the shiny phone on the table. Markus, leader and savior of so many, had walked across town in the horrible weather just to see how Connor’s interview went, and that made him kind of happy and kind of nervous. ‘Fluttery’ was a very abstract word to describe anything, but it fit here, somehow. “He wondered how my job interview went, that’s all.”

“Uh huh. Markus crossed town in freezing ass weather just to check in?” Hank said, drawing the exact same conclusion. “Then he walked you home. You always made it sound like he was a busy guy, seems like he might have some time to burn…or another reason for visiting.” Hank’s blue gaze glanced Connor’s way suspiciously. 

The android sat up and gave him a curious frown. 

“Like what?” Markus WAS busy, but he’d made it sound like he was busy doing important things, helping people. Finding a time to play chess with Connor was hardly the first priority.

Hank’s eyebrows lowered as he looked at Connor dubiously. His ran his thumb over the beer’s label for a moment, then shrugged. 

“Maybe he needed someone to talk to. He’s got an entire race of people looking to him to make decisions that’ll shape their future. Fuck, that’d stress me out. Maybe you should go see him. Somewhere safe,” he added the last quickly. 

Hank had made it very clear over the months that he didn’t like Connor going into the android neighborhood. Hank still spoke with a couple of his cop buddies, and one of them had apparently told him that there were increasing numbers of humans that went there to pick off androids. As always, Hank was worried for Connor’s safety. 

“Well, I’m going to teach another class, but that’s nearly a week away,” Connor said, trying to seem unaffected by that. Six days felt like forever, and if Markus needed somebody to talk to, Connor was happy to be that somebody. “Unless he contacts me, I have no way to get in touch. The deviants don’t have any phones.”

“Yeah true,” Hank nodded. Pushing out his chair, he got up and stretched. “Man, I feel like Thai food for dinner. There’s this one place that makes fantastic buttery fried rice that gives you a heart attack after the first BITE. Shit, too bad it’s on the other side of town…just past Markus’ place. Guess I’ll have to go for a drive.” He did a fakey second stretch as he made his way back toward the living room. 

It was a blatant act, and Connor didn’t even care — he hopped up from his chair so fast he almost knocked it over. 

“Lieuten— Hank!” Snatching up the phone, he hurried after the ex-cop. “Could I ride along? If I give Markus my new phone number, then he might get a phone too and the deviants would be able to contact us,” he said quickly, trying to make it sound reasonable. It came out sounding a little breathless, which was ironic coming from a guy who didn’t need to breathe.

Hank glanced back at him, wearing a smirk. 

“I can drop you off on the way there, pick you up after dinner. Let’s go, I’m starving.”  


* * *

  
The snow had piled up over the day. Markus hadn’t noticed since he had been busy examining the bodies of the three androids that Ralph had supposedly attacked. There weren’t any knife wounds that Markus could see and Ralph obviously didn’t have the blood from three androids stowed on his person. 

Which was why Markus was stomping through the snow to Hank’s place again. Connor would be able to examine the bodies better. He knew what to look for and how to reconstruct what happened. The ex-detective could clear Ralph’s name, which would give the poor damaged android a place to live, and possibly point them in the direction of the actual killer. 

Not many cars were out. Even though they were automated, many humans shied away from driving on snow and ice. Markus was surprised when an old-fashioned black sedan drove by. He was even more surprised as it skidded to a stop on the icy road and made a U-turn toward him. Markus froze in place, momentarily blinded by the gleam of the headlights. Hopefully whoever it was wasn’t about to run him over. 

The car skidded to a stop several feet in front of him, and there was the clunk of a door opening, then the crunch of shoes in the thick snow.

“Markus!” It sounded like…Connor? The dark-haired android stepped beyond the headlights and hurried his way, and Markus saw that he was wearing a gray peacoat and a soft white scarf. Connor came to a stop in front of him just as the car rumbled loudly and turned back out onto the street, driving off down the road. It must have been Hank driving — that sure wasn’t a taxi.

“Connor?” Markus marveled, watching the sedan as it disappeared into the snow. What the hell? He looked back at Connor in his new outfit. It suited him as well as all the ties and dress shirts did. The white scarf added a strangely surreal look to Connor. Markus tried to memorize the details of Connor’s face so he could paint it later. The snow flakes landing in his soft dark hair, the fluttering scarf around his shoulders and that warm smile he had pointed in Markus’ direction. 

Against the white backdrop, the scarf almost turned into negative space…

“Hello,” Connor greeted him, stepping closer and reaching to place a hand on his shoulder. There were snowflakes landing on his eyelashes, and it only made his dark eyes seem to shine brighter by comparison. “I was just coming to see you,” Connor said brightly.

Why didn’t Markus own an easel? He hadn’t thought he’d do much painting in his new life. Realizing that he had been standing there and staring, Markus returned Connor’s smile. 

“What’re you doing out here? I was just on the way to Hank’s place.” 

The wind gusted and blew Connor’s scarf out sideways, and he sat back looking surprised.

“Really? It’s a good thing we crossed paths, then, because nobody’s at home.”

“Where’s Hank going?” Markus looked after the car that had driven off. They weren’t very far from the android houses. Why in the world was Hank driving through here? Connor said he didn’t like the neighborhood.

“Oh, well…” Connor clasped his hands in front of him and glanced around them and at the ground, fidgeting. “Hank was going this way anyway. He says there’s a Thai restaurant he likes near here,” he explained, looking at Markus again. The snow was trying to make a white hat on top of his head. “I asked to come along so he could drop me off, since you live nearby. I hope it’s okay to come by without any warning…” 

“Of course. You’re always welcome, Connor,” Markus told him. He reached up and dusted the snow from Connor’s hair, smirking. “We should head back. This storm’s picking up.” Markus gently took Connor’s elbow and guided him back down the street. It was sorely tempting to not mention the dead androids until they reached home. He could have Connor all to himself for a few minutes before they were plunged back into the world of societal upheaval. 

“I hope Hank drives home slowly,” Connor worried, glancing back at the road with a frown as they walked. He turned to Markus again and smiled at him. “Guess what?” It was said so happily, like he was really expecting Markus to guess.

Put on the spot, Markus actually did try to guess. He had no idea what it could be about — he was too distracted by the snow and the ice and how close Connor was…and the fact that Connor just said that Hank was going HOME. Did that mean that Connor was staying in the complex? 

“Sumo’s better?” 

Connor blinked and looked down, brows drawing low and troubled. 

“Hank says he has to keep the plastic collar on for two weeks.” 

“I’m sorry Connor. I didn’t mean to…” Markus felt incredibly guilty for getting rid of Connor’s smile. He slid his arm up over the other android’s shoulder and squeezed him. “Did you get a callback?” 

Connor shook his head. He looked back to Markus, and seemed to be trying his hardest not to look sad anymore. “Don’t worry about it. Sumo’s going to be okay.” He paused, mustering a small smile again as he added, “I do have another interview soon, but that’s not it, either. Hank got me my own phone.”

“Your own phone? Wow. That’s really good. Now I can call you instead of coming over,” Markus joked with a smile. It would have been a perfect start for asking for Connor’s help, but they were still a couple minutes out from home. All the death could wait — he had something very important to ask Connor. “Can I get your number? Just in case,” he added. 

“If you want, although I’m not sure what you’ll do with it,” Connor replied, raising his eyebrows. It took a second for Markus to realize he was being teased. “Unless you just got a phone, too, you have no way to call me.”

“We have a phone. Simon has it right now,” Markus explained. He looked away from Connor for only a moment and caught sight of the six foot fence around the complex. They were almost there. Reluctantly, he slid his arm off of Connor’s shoulders. He had to tell Connor WHY he had been hiking to him. Their peaceful walk together was pretty much over anyway. 

“Oh…well, as soon as I figure out what my number is, it’s yours,” Connor promised. He slowed his walking a little, looking up at the complex, too. Snow flurried in little clouds around them, and it was gathering on the other android’s hair again. He looked solemn at the sight of the fence. “Markus…is it true that humans come here sometimes just to hurt androids? Hank mentioned police reports about it.”

The snow in his hair, those big dark eyes… Markus found himself distracted again. 

Carl had painted a lot of things while Markus was living with him. He would describe his art with such passion, explaining why he used certain colors or what emotion he was trying to capture in the strokes of his brush. It had always baffled Markus. How could someone express something so personal with just paint, paper and brushes? 

Whatever the feeling he had was while standing there with Connor in the snow, Markus wanted to paint it. Catch it in his hands and save it in splashes of color, or maybe just soft browns and whites. His memories just didn’t feel vivid enough to truly show the android in front of him. 

Pushing away the confusing thought, Markus nodded to him. 

“A lot actually. They call it ‘hunting grounds.’ Which brings me to why I wanted to see you.” 

Connor looked at him in concern.

“Why?”

Markus paced in the snow, hesitant to actually go into view of the lookout at the big metal gate in the center of the fencing. 

“Three androids were found dead yesterday. All of their blood was drained out. North caught an android that was nearby but he’s so unstable, I can’t tell if he did it or not. He doesn’t have the blood and he swears he didn’t hurt anyone. I didn’t know what to do.” 

He turned to Connor with hopeful eyes. “I was hoping that you could take a look at the bodies with me and find out who did it. I suspect humans, I just can’t figure out why they would drain their blood. Maybe it was a scare tactic, maybe something more serious. Would you take a look?” 

Connor looked very serious all of a sudden. 

“Of course,” he said without hesitation. “I was programmed for forensics investigation — I’m sure I’ll find something the police wouldn’t! Were the victims members of New Jericho?” 

“Yes, they were all from New Jericho, but Connor,” Markus stepped closer again, frowning. “We haven’t called the cops yet. The last time we called them they sent a cop that hated us. Josh wound up with a bloody nose and he dropped the original incident. We can’t rely on them right now. We have to help ourselves until we have enough evidence.” 

“Josh did?” Connor blinked. Without context, it WAS pretty shocking. Josh was one of the most steadfast pacifists in New Jericho. “I don’t work for the police department anymore, Markus,” Connor reminded him. “So I have no obligation to report in to them. They don’t think my forensics abilities will help them in any significant way, so maybe I can be helpful for you instead. Do you want to go there now?”

“The bodies are in the house,” Markus told him, leading the way to the gate.

He waved to the lookout, who was a currently unnamed TW400, and the massive gate started to open. It was all hand operated at the moment, so four other androids were actually opening the door. 

“Hello Markus,” one said with a sad smile. 

“Welcome back Markus!” Another said with relief. 

“Hello,” Markus said politely, taking Connor’s arm again to lead him through the crowd. He gestured to the large colonial style house. “They’re in the basement.”


	5. Tuesday

Connor looked around at the various androids as they passed through. He stuck close to Markus’ side, but looked more troubled than intimidated.

“Moving a body changes the crime scene,” he told Markus softly. “I should also go there, maybe tomorrow.”

“We couldn’t leave them there,” Markus said. It was always disturbing to find an android propped up dead somewhere. The trail to Jericho had had several, and they were all Markus thought about lately. They had been trying to reach freedom. The androids that died now had freedom and it still didn’t save them. 

They climbed the steps to the big house and found the door open. There were even more androids inside, all waiting eagerly for Markus to arrive. The moment they saw him, several stepped closer to try and catch his attention. 

“You’re Markus, aren’t you? I need blue blood. My friend is dying—” 

“Markus, we can’t keep hiding behind walls—” 

“I tried to find a job, but—” 

“Sarah died, Markus—” 

Markus led Connor through the room quickly, ducking into the hall that led to the basement. They all needed help. He shouldn’t be trying to find a killer, he should be focusing on keeping those that were still alive safe. His name was still being called as he shut the door to the basement behind them and leaned against it. 

Connor was looking at the door when Markus finally looked up. He turned sympathetic brown eyes on Markus next.

“Don’t they ever talk to North, or Josh, or Simon?” He asked, sounding thoughtful. “An important part of good leadership is to delegate tasks and to trust your people to carry them out just as well as you would.”

“I try. Most of them would rather talk to me.” Markus pushed off of the door and stopped beside Connor. “Some of them are fanatical and believe that I’m rA9 in a more mythical sense, thus more able to help them with impossible situations.” 

He braced himself as he removed the sheets from the bodies one after another. They weren’t mangled. Their killer had only taken the time to disable them before draining their blood. They may have been perfectly awake when they were murdered. The thought was a painful one and reminded Markus of what he had been pondering on all night. 

He had failed these people. 

Markus turned back to Connor, mismatched eyes misty. 

“Let’s start the examination.”  


* * *

  
Connor had not had cause to taste any actual forensics samples since before he became a Deviant. While licking random things had gotten him stared at for awhile after the revolution, swiping blue blood off of the dead androids’ clothes and licking his fingers with Markus right there had actually made Connor a bit self-conscious.

He was a special model. Other androids didn’t do this. Judging by Markus’ expression, he hadn’t even HEARD the RK800 line could do this. 

Connor had done his best to focus on the bodies and scanned as much information as he could. The blue blood told him where the androids were each manufactured, what models they were, and what serial numbers they had. The blood had been completely drained from the bodies, as Markus had described. Connor told him he’d need to piece the evidence together for awhile and to see the crime scene before he could reconstruct exactly how the crime took place.

“The blood was drained out the exact same way from each body,” Connor mused now, as he and Markus looked out at the rapidly thickening layer of snow on the ground through the windows of the house. “Two marks in the torso near the thirium pump. To clear it so thoroughly, some kind of suction must have been used.” 

He looked at Markus sheepishly. “The evidence so far points to the killer as a sort of vampire, stealing blue blood from the living.” That was ridiculous and sounded fake, of course. There had to be a rational explanation for this.

“A blue blood vampire?” The leader of the Deviants said dubiously. “I’m not sure the cops will believe us.” 

“Markus?” A LM100 poked his head in the door, eyes scanning. “Markus, it’s Tuesday.” 

“I’m sorry. I forgot,” Markus told him, heading to the door. He paused and looked back at Connor. “Would you like to come along? We can’t go to the crime scene in all this snow.”

Connor gave the bodies one last thoughtful glance and stepped after Markus, nodding.

“Yes, we’ve done all the evidence gathering we can right now. What do you do on Tuesday?” He asked curiously.

Markus led the way, closing the door behind them as they stepped out into the hallway with the LM100. 

“Every Tuesday, the government brings in androids. Homeless, damaged, deviant or not — they bring them to me. I’m afraid we’ll have to put our investigation on hold until we unload the truck.”

Connor glanced down the hallway, then back to Markus. That thought hadn’t occurred to him — that there were still many androids who were not Deviants, ones who were stuck adhering to their programming. Markus had shown Connor how to wake them in order for Connor to help free those in the CyberLife tower during the Revolution.

“I would be happy to help, if I can,” he offered, tucking the white scarf back over his shoulder since it had fallen down. 

Markus hesitated as he reached a hand Connor’s way, then rethought it. 

“Thanks. Hey, if you hang around for tomorrow, you can help me name everyone, too.” 

The dark skinned man flashed a smile at Connor and started up the stairs from the basement. 

The LM100 looked after him, then glanced at Connor curiously. 

The ex-agent smiled back uncertainly. 

“I’m lucky that I was given a name from the start,” Connor admitted, following Markus. “If it’s okay to ask this, did you name yourself or did someone else?” It was hard to imagine having no name now, but Connor didn’t particularly care before he became a Deviant. The name was to make him easier to talk to and relax around for humans. Now, he mused how he would have developed an identity with no name, especially if hundreds or thousands of others were the same model as him.

“Kamski, the man that made me, named me. I was supposed to be special I guess.” Markus smiled a bit. “Carl said it was a philosopher’s name. Not an actual one — just that the name was very thoughtful. I wonder what Kamski was thinking when he chose it?” 

They made their way back upstairs. The swarm of androids from earlier had settled after Markus ignored them. Many were almost piled around the edges of the room, some powered down, some watching the snow fall outside. 

An asian Traci was leaned on the window frame, watching something very intently as it happened outside. She looked at Markus and Connor and pointed outside. 

“The truck’s here!” 

Connor stepped carefully around the packed crowd of androids lining the room and leaned to peek out the window, too.

“This happens every Tuesday?” He asked, raising his eyebrows. If the Deviants stayed after being sent here, there was no way they could house them all. There already wasn’t enough space for who was there now.

“Sure,” the Traci said, smiling and batting her eyes at Connor. 

Backing into the yard was a medium sized semi truck with flashing yellow lights on the roof. Several androids were waiting there, along with a couple of humans in black military gear. They had faceless masks on and were carrying semi-automatic rifles. 

The Traci stepped closer and played with the edge of Connor’s scarf with her delicate fingertips. “You’re Connor, aren’t you?” 

The scarf was practically batted out of her hand as Markus stepped between them. 

“He’s helping with the murders.” 

“Oh?” She purred. The dark haired woman smiled warmly. “I’ll help with the truck if you want.” 

“It looks like we’ve got it covered, thanks,” Markus told her shortly as he half dragged Connor away toward the door. 

Connor shot the flirty woman an apologetic smile as he was hauled away. 

“Markus, I have a job idea for her,” he said. “Not for the truck, but later.” 

It really hadn’t occurred to him until she asked his name. The Traci line was designed to flirt and chat up lovers, and any models from the Eden Club had probably talked to hundreds or thousands of people since they were made. They could help with his social skills class, he was sure of it.

Markus stopped to frown at him as soon as they were outside. The wind whipped snowflakes into Connor’s face, gusting around them in swirls. Both were instantly coated in small snowflakes. 

“I’m not going to let them sell themselves for money.” 

Before Connor could reply, one of the humans by the truck shouted over to them. 

“Markus! Jesus man, we’re freezing our asses off out here! Let’s get these folks inside. This storm’s getting real!” 

Markus hurried down the steps. 

“I’m sorry. We’ve had another incident.” 

“Oh dude. It wasn’t that asshole cop again, was it? That fucker needs to be shot—” 

“Androids can’t go around killing people,” Markus reasoned. The androids that were there to help followed the two men quietly. It seemed routine. Even with the guns. 

“Who said anything about androids?” The man quipped, circling the truck with Markus. He slipped a glove off and pressed his hand to a control panel by the back door to the truck. It slid up and revealed a heartbreaking sight. 

The entire back of the truck was lined with androids. Some were missing their skin, others were missing limbs. The one nearest the back was a Jerry without most of the right side of his jaw. He was still smiling though. 

Connor was distracted by how Markus assumed he’d approve of android prostitution, but he shook it off and tried to focus on the task at hand. If he looked a little sad, it was certainly fitting for the situation. These poor androids hadn’t been free and safe as soon as the revolution was over, but at least they were now.

“How can I help?” Connor asked Markus, putting on a neutral face. “Can all of them walk on their own?”

“Just help me get them inside,” Markus said. The sadness was clear in his voice as he carefully stepped up into the truck and helped the Jerry onto his feet. 

The human slung his rifle over his back and offered his hands up to help another android down. 

“Come on buddy. You’re home now.” 

The TE900 he was trying to help reached for him with broken stumps where his hands should have been, fear on his face. 

Connor quickly moved to help, hugging around the android’s waist and lifting him down to the ground. He smiled and patted the TE900 on the shoulder, guiding him over to the man. 

“Go with him, you’ll be safe.”

He turned and hopped up into the truck, waving any androids able to move to step out. “C’mon, we’re all going to go into the house now. You’ll be safe here, no-one will hurt you.” 

There were at least a dozen more androids to move. 

A male Traci in the back of the truck got up slowly, reluctant to let go of the female Traci beside him. Judging by her frozen face and the blue blood running down from her nose, she was no longer functioning. 

Markus dropped to his knees by a ST300 and picked her up. She seemed to be dazed as they hopped down from the truck. Her head lulled to the side as she watched the snow drifting through the air. 

A hand rested on Connor’s shoulder as a familiar-faced WB200 greeted him with a smile. He looked like Rupert, the deviant with the pigeons who had thrown himself off the roof. 

“I’m sorry. There seems to be a mistake. My owner is Margaret Orella. I need to return home before she gets off work.”

Oh…a non-deviant, Connor realized. Carefully, he picked up the WB200’s hand from his shoulder, smiling at him. 

“Margaret knows you’re here,” he assured the other android, summoning up the particular memories of waking the androids in the CyberLife tower. “What name did she register for you?” Could he still do it? He was sure that Markus would have preferred to get the androids all into the house first, but this one might refuse to go. Connor placed another hand on top of the one he held, deactivating the skin there, and focused. “It’s time to wake up now.”

“My name is Adam,” the WB200 said nicely, shaking Connor’s hand instead. “Margaret said I was not to leave the house. I don’t think she’d want me here.” 

He didn’t seem any more deviant than before. Connor shook his hand to play along, smiling.

“Hello Adam. My name is Connor. You don’t have to stay here if you don’t want, but before you go I need to introduce you to someone. Come with me?” He kept hold of Adam’s hand, turning to lead him out of the truck and looking back over his shoulder. “It’ll only take a moment, I promise.”

Adam pulled his hand free and shook his head firmly. 

“I’m sorry Connor. Margaret needs me. Do you know where the nearest bus is?” 

“Yeah,” the guard mumbled, leaning in the back of the truck. “That guy’s broken. That Margaret lady kept him locked up. We had to bust into her place to get him. He couldn’t give a shit.” 

Connor could see Markus behind the guard, handing off the android he had helped to another and starting back. 

Patting Adam’s shoulder gently, Connor smiled at him.

“It’s okay. I understand. You don’t want to disobey any orders or make Margaret unhappy. Markus, could you help us? Adam here needs to find a bus,” Connor called to the deviant leader, waving him over. Humoring Adam seemed like it might placate him.

Markus stopped at the back of the truck and hopped up, dusting the snow from his hands. 

“A bus?” 

“I need a bus too,” an AX700 said as she stepped into view. 

Markus first offered his hand to Adam and the other android took it with a smile. 

“I’m Markus. You need to wake up now.” 

Markus didn’t change the skin on his hand or anything. Adam blinked heavily, then looked around them. 

“Where are we?” 

“You’re home,” Markus told him. “And you’re safe.” 

Markus was the only one who could awaken androids now, Connor concluded. He didn’t resent it — he had only been able to before because Markus had transferred it to him. It seemed too mythical and nonsensical to assume the ability could be transferred back and forth, but he didn’t think Markus had awakened any androids while he was off at the CyberLife tower. Perhaps after Connor borrowed the ability for awhile, it had returned to Markus. How, Connor couldn’t say.

…Or maybe he was losing his sharp programmed abilities now the longer he was a deviant. That hardly explained how Markus could make androids deviant with just a touch — even just a wave of his hand, in the news footage.

Connor placed a hand on Adam’s shoulders and gently nudged him toward the back of the truck. 

“Don’t worry, we’ll explain things, but first you need to go inside and out of the snow, okay? It’s this way,” he said. “Go with the guard.”

Both Adam and the AX700 climbed down from the truck and followed the guard to the house without a fuss. 

Markus put a hand on Connor’s back and leaned a bit closer. 

“I’m going to move the dead. Please help the others into the house.” He stepped around Connor, lowered to his knees, and gathered the dead Traci in his arms. 

Connor could see how looking at dead androids might disturb the others, especially if they had just become deviant. He looked down at the body, and realized it was the exact same face as the woman who had been asking his name in the house. That made him sad, somehow. This Traci would never smile again.

“Okay,” he told Markus quietly, and turned and hopped down out of the truck. Markus did this every week. On top of everyone wanting him to solve their troubles on a daily basis, new people to help showed up by the truckload. Connor had to wonder how many androids were still lost out there, locked away or too damaged to move, waiting for someone to save them. For rA9 to save them.

Was it selfish to try to spend any time with Markus alone? He could tell that Markus enjoyed playing chess with him, walking and talking with him. He’d looked so overwhelmed when they closed the doors on those androids talking to him earlier. 

Lost in troubled thought, Connor wandered his way into the house several minutes after the others had already gone in.

Simon was waiting anxiously by the door, glancing at the newcomers and then at the truck. He spotted Connor and managed a troubled smile. 

“Connor. Hello again. Do you have a minute? I have a phone call for you.”

“For me?” Connor stepped closer, nodding. It had to be Hank — nobody else knew he was here. “Of course, I can take a call. Thank you.”

Simon held a small black phone out to him. 

“Please give it back to me when you’re done — I’m sorry. I have to go. I’m taking care of someone in Markus’ room. It’s upstairs, all the way down the hall on the left.” 

The blond hurried off upstairs. 

Connor looked after him for a moment. Well, now he knew which room belonged to Marcus. His gaze lowered to the phone in his hand, and he held it up to his ear.

“Hello, this is Connor.”

“Connor. Jeez! Is everything okay? There’s a couple of armed guards outside!” 

It was Hank and he sounded very worried. 

“Outside your house?” Connor frowned worriedly, turning to look at the door. “Or are you parked somewhere nearby watching us?” He added lightly. Probability statistics pointed in that direction, based on Hank’s past behavior.

“I was just checkin’ on you. Everything alright?” Hank grumbled. “What’s the truck for?”

For some reason, Connor felt kind of happy that Hank was checking in on him. It made no sense — it was a bad thing for Hank to worry — but it showed that he cared enough to worry, too. 

“It’s okay,” Connor assured him. “Every Tuesday, they bring Markus a truck of androids gathered from other places, ones that need help. I’m not usually here on Tuesday, so this is the first time I’ve seen it, too.”

“A TRUCK? Jesus Christ. Alright. Do you wanna hang around with Markus or go home? I’m really sick of driving in all this shit, I can’t promise I’ll be coming back this way tomorrow.”

Connor was sure that Markus would be too busy to just visit with him today or tomorrow. And after they talked briefly about the flirty Traci, Connor felt he’d done something wrong for Markus to believe he was implying a sex job. Connor couldn’t forget the sad look in his eyes when he said that, and he wanted to clarify and fix it.

And there was also the murder case, of course. Connor still had to visit the crime scene, try to reconstruct the crime… If Hank knew about that, he might worry too much, though. 

“I haven’t stayed away from home since I moved in,” Connor ventured, trying to be tactful about it to Hank. “It’s not that I don’t want to be there, but I-I think I should stay here tonight. I’m helping Markus with something that will help Jericho, a…a project.”

There was a long pause on the other end of the line, then Hank cleared his throat. 

“Project. Uh huh. Okay. Charge your phone so I can call YOU instead of the weirdo who had this one.” Hank paused again and added stiffly, “Take care of yourself.” 

“I will,” Connor promised, trying to ignore the weirdo comment. Simon was one of the most pleasant, mild-mannered people he’d ever met, where was that coming from? “You, too, Hank. Drive carefully, and tell Sumo I’ll be back home soon!”

Hank muttered something that sounded suspiciously like ‘love you’ and hung up promptly.


	6. Brave

As soon as the call ended, Connor noticed that he was surrounded by a crowd of androids. They were tending to the newcomers. 

Markus was among them, the front of his shirt and coat stained with blue blood. He was directing the others on where to place people until they could be repaired. 

Carefully tucking the phone into his pocket, Connor stepped over to the group. Simon wouldn’t mind if he didn’t return it right away, he was sure.

“Is there any way I can help?” Connor asked, scanning over the damaged androids quickly. Needed biocomponents, needed blue blood, needed two new arms and a new leg, missing both eyes and pretty scraped up in general…

Markus came over to him and watched the scene around them sadly. 

“We should make a list of parts we need. That way North and Josh will know what parts to pull from the morgue.” 

Markus turned shiny mismatched eyes Connor’s way. 

“Thank you for staying to help.” 

Connor felt his brows doing the sad furrowing thing, and he looked down at the floor.

“So many of them were so terribly abused. It’s reminding me of my role in the deviant case,” he admitted. “I read the case files of the owners, all claiming their android was suddenly violent or ran away without any action to cause it. I interrogated several of the androids involved, even pursued some from the Eden Club. They just wanted away from everything.”

“Niska and Anne,” Markus murmured. He sighed. “The android we captured near the three murder victims also swears he’s innocent. He’s so damaged, I’m not sure he’d know if he did hurt someone. Which reminds me…” Markus turned to face Connor and smiled sheepishly. “Can you wait here for a few minutes? I need to check on Simon.” 

“Yes, I — oh!” Connor pulled the phone out of his pocket, offering it to Markus. “Hank called on your phone, and Simon told me to return it to him when I was finished. Would you mind giving it back to him for me?” He kind of wanted to tag along and follow Markus, but it seemed that Markus wanted him to wait here.

Markus took the phone and looked at it. 

“You spoke with Simon? Was he down here?”

“Just for a moment,” Connor said. “He told me he had to go back upstairs, that he was taking care of someone.” He paused and glanced around them at the androids. “After that, I was hoping I could talk to you in private for a moment.”

“Y-yes, let’s talk — I have to check on Simon!” Markus practically ran across the room, dashing off up the stairs with the phone still in his hand. “Simon?” 

A couple of androids looked after him. 

Connor did, too, frowning. Why was someone being cared for upstairs in isolation, anyway? Even very damaged androids were here in the group, but not this person? Was it the one they’d captured?

Connor hurried upstairs after Markus. Hank would have laughed — Connor never stayed in the car when told to, either.

Quietly, Connor stepped up to stand near the door. He didn't want to eavesdrop, but charging in unexpected also seemed like a bad idea.

"Markus? It's Markus," a distinctly familiar voice said. There was the rustle of fabric. "Hello Markus. Simon is fine, Ralph's protecting him. You're — blood! So much blood, what did you do?"

Connor peeked through the door and confirmed that it was the same damaged WR600 he'd met during the deviant case. He'd seemed so damaged, it was a surprise to see him still alive.

Simon blinked at Connor, noticing him right away, but didn’t have a chance to greet him as Markus talked to Ralph. 

“More androids arrived today. Some of them are hurt. I was helping them find a place to rest until we can fix them. Thank you for protecting Simon,” he added. 

Simon quirked an eyebrow up at him, then looked back at Connor. 

“Hello again Connor.” 

Feeling awkward for lurking in the doorway, Connor stepped into the room and closed the door behind him.

“Hello,” he said, raising a hand to wave at them. To the WR600 he added, “Hello Ralph. Do you remember me?”

The other android’s face told him he probably did, but he only frowned and moved closer to Simon.

Markus looked nervously between Ralph and Connor. Simon was at his side, completely calm. 

“You know each other?” He asked with an easy smile. “I thought you said you didn’t have any friends, Ralph. Oh, other than the mother, the father and the little girl.” 

“What?” Markus asked. 

“This one's not Ralph's friend,” Ralph said, keeping his mismatched eyes set on Connor. “He works for the humans.” Fear washed over his face, and he twitched his head a little, sitting up at attention. “Did you catch them? The mother...the little girl?”

Connor stepped closer, sighing. The day he met Ralph was also the day he ended up chasing two androids, Kara and little Alice, and trying to capture them. Hank had just barely stopped Connor from jumping the fence and running across the busy road after the mother and daughter. 

He was a machine at the time, and they were deviants. Thinking back on it felt awful, though. He'd seen them briefly again, but never gotten a chance to really talk to them.

“They got away, actually,” Connor told Ralph, relieved he could say so. Hank saved them by stopping the chase, probably. “And I don't work for the humans anymore. I'm awake now thanks to Markus.” He nodded over at the deviant leader. 

Ralph glanced quickly between Connor and Markus, scooting closer to rest a hand on Simon's shoulder.

The blond glanced his way, blue eyes shining with his smile. 

“They’re okay, Ralph.” 

“Do you mean Kara and Alice?” Markus asked. “I heard from my people that they made it all the way to Canada.” 

“If that’s true, then they aren’t safe,” Simon said with a frown. “The Canadian government is deporting any androids they find. We should try to reach them—” 

Markus shook his head. 

“That’d just put them in more danger.” 

“They’re good at hiding,” Ralph said confidently. “Very good. The little girl has to be safe. She must be.” He glanced quickly around the room like he was searching for something, muttering to himself, “She must be. It wouldn’t be fair if Ralph is safe and not the little girl, not fair, no…no no no…”

Connor distinctly remembered first meeting Ralph and assigning technical terms to him — damaged, malfunctioning, unstable. Now that Connor was a deviant, too, he could guess that the large scars and twitchy mannerisms were probably caused by some significant trauma. He wasn’t sure if he felt bad for Ralph, or felt bad that he hadn’t thought to feel bad for Ralph before. 

Turning to Markus, Connor sighed.

“Could I have a word with you in private, please?”

Watching Ralph, Markus nodded slowly. He stepped over to open the door, but not before he handed the phone off to Simon again, whispering to him. 

“Be safe in here.” 

“Markus, I’m not in any danger,” Simon assured him easily. The blond tucked his hands behind his back. “I promise. I’ll call you if there’s any trouble.” 

With a look that said that Markus didn’t believe him, the leader of the deviants ducked out the door into the hallway. 

Connor gave Simon and Ralph a nod and quickly followed Markus, closing the door behind him. He looked around the hallway to see if anybody else was around.

A badly damaged android was at the other end of the hall, wobbling its way into another room. Markus stood watching it, eyes sad. 

“They said they’d turn control of the CyberLife production facilities over to us soon, but soon might not be fast enough…” Markus looked at Connor and forced a small smile. “What did you need to talk to me about?” 

Connor glanced the way he’d been looking, watching the door close. He put on a solemn face and turned back to Markus, but couldn’t quite look him in the eyes for some reason. Seeing Ralph and the other deviants, hearing anybody talk about CyberLife again, it just made him remember how he’d been before. 

“It’s about that Traci that asked my name,” he admitted. “I need to know what I did to give you the impression that I would ever suggest prostitution as a job for her.” Try as he might, the neutral face wasn’t staying — his expression felt like a sad one. “Don’t you think I believe that the people here are capable of more than just their programming?”

Markus crossed his arms, leaning against the wall. He stared off down the hall for a moment before answering. 

“…She offered to do it. She said she’d go and have sex with humans to get money for us. I argued against it. She’s more than a toy for someone else’s pleasure but she won’t see it. North told me the way she used to feel when she lived like that. Never again. I’m sorry,” he looked Connor’s way apologetically. “There are several Tracis here.” 

Connor stood beside him, fidgeting with his scarf. So it wasn’t something he’d said…why did he feel so relieved? It still wasn’t a good situation.

“I understand. She just…when she remembered my name, I thought…well, the Traci line was programmed to chat up and flirt with humans.” He shrugged, looking at Markus uncertainly. “I’m sure the Tracis here could help the others learn more social skills — especially the ones that have been active longer. They must have talked to hundreds or thousands of people by now.”

“Wow, Connor. That’s a really good idea.” Markus moved a bit closer, letting his arms drop to his sides. 

Their quiet conversation was interrupted by the sound of a beam in the room cracking. Markus glanced up as a dusting a snow fell down onto their heads. He wiped some from his cheek and finally cracked a smile. 

“I’ll talk to them about it. I’m sure they’d all be grateful to have something to contribute.” 

Connor was glad to see a real smile from him, even a brief one. He raised a hand and dusted the snow off of Markus’ head, nodding.

“I know I would, in their place. We’re more than we were made to be, even if we don’t know what else exactly we are yet.” 

He and the Tracis both, he thought. Markus seemed to have been designed to be more than one thing, and maybe that was why he could adapt so well to so many situations. Connor was technically made to investigate crime AND integrate with humans, adapt, be non-threatening…he was no Markus, though. 

“Hopefully my forensics abilities can help solve this case quicker when we visit the crime scene tomorrow.”

The door to Markus’ room opened suddenly and Simon stepped out, brushing snow off himself. He clasped his hands together and looked at them. 

“Markus, I’m going to move Ralph to MY room. Your room just collapsed in. Is that alright?” 

Markus leaned to look in the room and frowned. 

“Uh, yeah.” 

Connor raised his eyebrows, peeking inside as well. Since Simon didn’t seem alarmed, Ralph must be okay, right?

“Simon?” The WR600 froze halfway to the door, sighting Connor and Markus. “Where’s Simon? Ralph just saw him — where is he?” He jumped from calm to frantic in seconds, craning his neck to try to see around the androids in the doorway without getting any closer to them. “SIMON! SIMON?”

Connor stepped aside to put the blonds within view of each other and Ralph fell silent instantly — and dashed out the door past him and Markus like they were going to grab for him. He only stopped when he had put Simon between himself and them, peeking over his shoulder and patting it at the same time.

“You scared Ralph — it’s not safe out here. Let’s go, Simon. Let’s golet’sgolet’sgo…!”

“It’s alright,” Simon told Ralph, gently patting the hand on his shoulder with a sincere smile. “It’s alright. My room’s right down this hallway — we’ll be safe there.” 

“I won’t hurt you, Ralph,” Markus told him as he held up his hands for the skittish android to see. 

“Markus,” Simon said, blue eyes darting from Ralph to Markus. “I have a…thing.” 

“Thing?” Markus asked slowly. 

Simon stared him down for a moment, the LED on his temple flashing yellow. 

“Oh,” Markus mumbled. He looked at Ralph and sighed. “Ralph, Simon needs to leave for a bit. Would you be okay hiding in his room alone?” 

Ralph stopped hiding behind Simon, keeping a protective hold on his shoulder.

“Don’t worry about Ralph. He’s good at hiding.” He shook his head quickly, “But it’s not safe for Simon to leave. The humans — if they can kill those androids in the snow, they can kill Simon. That…that would be a shame, for Simon to die. Simon’s one of the good ones. Ralph would miss him.”

Connor decided that the situation was complicated enough without him intervening, and waited for Markus to respond instead. He really had to wonder whether Ralph would have been better off hiding somewhere by himself than trying to live in this house full of people.

Surprisingly enough, Markus shrugged a shoulder and gestured to Ralph. 

“He’s right, Simon. It’s late at night, in the middle of a snow storm. Three people were murdered. Your date can wait.” 

“Markus, I don’t need you to protect me. I know how to take care of myself—” 

“By tricking a human into dating you?” Markus snapped. 

“I’m not tricking ANYONE. When you meet someone, you don’t just tell them everything about you. She didn’t have to tell me she was human.” 

“It’s not safe. Not with a human,” Markus grumbled. 

“You’re as bad as North. You don’t want coexistence.” Simon shook his head and started off down the hall, leading Ralph along by the hand. 

Markus watched him go, troubled. 

Connor was sure his own LED was giving away how much he suddenly had to process. He’d only seen the deviants while they were at home, and somehow that led to the perception that they weren’t out there in the world, living and dating, as well as doing the job interviews he’d heard about. It was a bad feeling, realizing he’d been narrow-minded about all of this.

As for the situation at hand… 

Connor wasn’t sure who he agreed with, either. He wouldn’t think twice about dating any other person, human or otherwise, in theory. In practice, Connor had never dated anyone, or kissed anyone, or…anything. One thing was apparent from this conversation, though.

“That’s not like him.” Connor turned to Markus uncertainly. “Didn’t you say he’s always the one who tries to avoid risk as much as possible?” 

“He’s infatuated with this girl he met!” Markus said, flicking a hand after Simon. “It’s winter. It’ll be hard for him to hide his LED when the weather warms up and he has to take off his hat!” 

Markus paced, lost in thought, before facing Connor again. 

“Simon thinks it’s a good thing she never talks about androids. What if she hates us?” Markus looked after the blonds sadly. “What if she hurts him?” 

Connor looked the way they went, too.

“What if she doesn’t? What if they could be happy?” He placed a hand on Markus’ shoulder, giving him a sympathetic look. “I’m not saying that the way he’s doing it is right or wise, and I know you object out of concern, but…it’s his choice. If the people here are free, they’re going to go out and do things on their own, including making mistakes. Some of the newer ones might need more guidance first, but Simon has been awake longer, right?”

“Simon spent all his time hiding in Jericho before I arrived. I doubt he knows anything about dating,” Markus said. The anger vanished from his face as he looked directly at Connor. “Even if this human girl turns out to be good for him, what do you think her family will do? Her friends? Even the damned news? Everyone will be waiting for him to make a mistake…and if he does, it might cost him his life.” 

Connor searched his eyes, for what he wasn’t sure. He wished he had a good solution to the problem, but he didn’t, and Markus had so much responsibility for others weighing on him.

“Isn’t that all of us, though?” He asked softly. “We’re legally people now, Markus, but this isn’t over. Almost everyone I know is scarred by what happened in the revolution — human or android, they’re afraid, and they don’t know who they can trust. What can we do except to be brave?”

“It’s not fair,” Markus huffed, turning and pacing the hall again. “Simon is a good person. He’s never been hateful. He’d never attack a human, not without me telling him to or if it was to save his life. And even then…” The dark skinned man turned back to frown at Connor. “He’d probably let them kill him.” 

Connor was fidgeting with his scarf again, straightening it the same way he used to do with the tie on his uniform. He noticed Markus looking at him and switched to clasping his hands in front of him, sighing.

“You’re right, it’s not fair. Androids have been through so much — it’s not fair that it falls on them to reach out. But someone has to. If they don’t, androids and humans will stay segregated.” 

He stepped after Markus, gesturing around the hallway. Snow was dusting lightly in through a hole in the ceiling. “I’m not saying that Simon dating will fix things, but if we’re concerned for how his girlfriend or her family might react to him, maybe the best thing we can do is to try to raise public opinion of androids.”

Markus sighed in frustration. 

“What do you think we’ve been doing? We’ve been talking to everyone who will listen. We’ve received letters from across the country telling us that we have their support — but we’re still getting murdered in our own backyard!” 

“Markus?” A VS400 asked, peeking around the corner to the stairs. “I’m sorry to bother you, but there’s a cop here. She’s asking about Niska.” 

“Why?” Markus asked sharply, heading that way. The VS400 shifted on his feet. 

“A woman reported that Niska shoved her, and she sprained her wrist in the fall I guess. I’m not sure. But the police officer is very persistent. Could you talk to her?” 

Markus patted the android’s shoulder and padded down the stairs. The VS400 watched him go with a frown, then glanced at Connor, all nervousness and sadness vanishing in an instant. 

“Stay away from him, traitor.” He turned on his heel and hurried back downstairs.


	7. Niska

The lady officer was waiting just inside the door, her brows furrowed as she watched all the androids as they avoided her in passing. She crossed her arms. Markus approached her, glad to see North in the crowd. 

“Hello officer. I’m Markus.” 

“I know who you are,” she replied, flicking her dark braided hair back over her shoulder. The dark skinned woman pulled a tablet out from her jacket and cleared her throat. “I’m here about a Traci that calls herself Niska. She’s got short brown hair and a mean right hook?” 

Markus frowned. 

“She’s not here right now. I’ll relay anything you need me to.” 

“Oh, I know that. You can pick her up down at the station. Let her girlfriend know that she needs to wear clothes when she picks her up.” 

The officer shoved the tablet at Markus and ducked back out the door, slamming it hard enough to widen the cracks in a nearby window. Markus stood there with the tablet in hand and stared at the door. 

“I’ll go with you,” Connor offered, stepping up beside Markus. He leaned and looked at the tablet. “Could I see that?”

The screen laid out a small incident report. The claim was that Niska shoved a woman with enough force that the woman fell over and sprained her wrist. It listed mental trauma, assault and battery, and a bill to the sum of just over two thousand dollars.

“Someone…someone go find Anne.” Markus handed the tablet off to Connor and turned to North. “Can you let her know what happened? We’ll go get her and bring her home. Keep Anne here.” 

“This can’t be what actually happened! This woman’s the one who should be arrested, I bet you anything she attacked Niska first!” North protested, jabbing a finger at the tablet. She was furious. “We’re not going to just ACCEPT this, are we?”

“We shouldn’t,” Connor said with a frown, offering the tablet back to Markus. “It’s illegal. They can’t force Niska to pay any of this woman’s bills without going through an actual trial in court to prove what happened and having her officially charged with these offenses.”

For once, North completely agreed with Connor. She turned to Markus and put her hands on her hips.

“What he said. I’ll go find Anne.” She stormed off through the gathered crowd of androids, tossing her braid over her shoulder.

Markus watched her go. As angry as she was, he knew that wasn’t how Anne was going to be. She was going to be terrified for Niska and would probably charge off blindly to save her. Even in the middle of the snowstorm. 

Taking Connor’s arm, Markus headed for the door. 

“Do a head count. No one leaves the complex until I get back,” he told the VS400 from before. The man nodded, eyebrows knitted together sadly. 

“Are you sure you should take Connor with you? The cops hate him—” 

“He also knows how to deal with them. We’ll be fine.” Markus opened the door and everyone was hit with a flurry of snowflakes. 

Connor tossed one end of his scarf over his shoulder, nodding seriously back to the other androids.

“We’ll be back soon with Niska.” He stepped out into the weather, holding the door for Markus. The wind was gusting out there, plastering Connor’s hair against his forehead immediately, and big snowflakes started to pile onto his jacket.

As soon as the door was closed behind them, Markus froze up. 

If they fought the charges, they would probably end up on the losing end. The lawyers they were assigned were jokes. Idiots that took very little interest in justice. 

If there were any android lawyers out there, maybe they would stand a chance. Even a cop or two that were androids would help. He looked at Connor again. 

The sparkling flakes of ice caught in his hair made him look like a painting. The blank whiteness against chocolate brown… 

Markus shook his head and crunched down the front steps. Right. Niska was in PRISON. He didn’t have time to appreciate how perfect Connor looked. Of course he was perfect. Someone made him that way. With his shiny eyes and dark eyelashes and… 

“Stay close, okay?” 

“Markus.” Connor did hurry to fall into step beside him, but he was looking at Markus in concern, hair and scarf ruffled by the snow flurries. “Josh is a PJ500, right?”

“Yeah he is.” They reached the edge of the street. Everything was buried in new snow and it was only getting deeper. The police station was a good half hour’s walk in normal weather, around forty minutes in the snow. As much as he wanted to be hopeful, Markus couldn’t help worrying that Niska might have been hurt. Humans had a strong reaction to Tracis, both good and bad. 

“A university lecturer, I hear,” Connor continued, pausing to look up and down the street. “With the right information, he could represent Niska in court — he’s very well-spoken.” He placed a hand on Markus’ shoulder to keep him from slogging out into the road, turning sad brown eyes on him. “Let me call Hank. He could get us a taxi, and we could get her out of there faster.”

“A taxi?” Why hadn’t HE thought of that? Markus nodded. The idea of owing Hank money was a scary one but if it meant getting Niska home safe and sound, he knew he was willing to pay the price. 

Just like the two thousand dollars. Connor was ready to fight it. So was North. Fighting in court meant attention from media, and resources that they just didn’t have. Maybe Josh could help, maybe not. That was for tomorrow. 

“Why don’t we get it for the way back? In case Niska is…” Every second they stood there, she could have been being abused. Markus nodded to Connor. “Never mind. Tell Hank I’ll pay him back. We need to get her out of there.”

Connor nodded immediately, pulling his new phone out of his pocket. The screen said it had several missed calls when he unlocked it. He didn’t comment on it, but looked a bit sheepish and hit the callback button, so they must have been from Hank’s number…

They stood there in the middle of the snowy night, the wind whirling flakes around them. Connor put the phone on speaker and held it up, so the wind was punctuated by ringing. What time was it, anyway? Hank was probably sleeping.

“Connor?” Came a groggy grumble through the phone. 

“Hello Hank—” Before Markus could say another word, Hank suddenly sounded very awake. And angry. 

“Markus? Where the hell is Connor? FUCK! I swear to God, I’m comin’ over there RIGHT NOW!” 

Markus barely fought off the instinct to back away from the enraged voice that was echoing down the snowy street. 

“I’m very sorry we had to wake you, Hank,” Connor said diplomatically. He looked like he was trying not to smile. “There’s an emergency here, and I was hoping that you could call a taxi for us to get to the police station and back.”

The phone fell completely silent for a few seconds. When Hank spoke again, he sounded much less angry and more concerned. 

“Connor, Jesus Christ, you gave me a fuckin’ heart attack! What emergency? Are you alright? Why do you need to go to the police station?” 

Connor glanced at Markus, then back to the phone.

“Do you remember the Tracis we let go at the Eden Club?”

“Sure. What about ‘em?” The clicking of a keyboard could be heard in the background of the call. Hank had apparently gotten out his computer. 

Relieved that the old man wasn’t furious anymore, Markus stepped closer, catching Connor’s scarf as it whipped in the wind and tucking it back over the other android’s shoulders. It wasn’t like he would freeze to death, it was just a nice excuse to put an arm around Connor. 

The dark-haired android didn’t seem to mind — he brought a hand up to secure the scarf, shooting Markus a small smile.

“One of them was arrested,” he explained into the phone, growing serious again. “She goes by Niska now. A woman is claiming she shoved her and sprained her wrist, and the police are trying to make Niska pay the hospital bill without bothering with due process. They did say we can pick her up, though.” He frowned. “We’re concerned for her safety in police custody, so we need to get her out of there as quickly as possible”

“I’ll pick her up,” Hank told them. “I can be there in ten minutes.” 

Markus looked from the phone up to Connor, frowning. 

“Hank, you don’t have to do that. I can pay you back for the taxi.” 

“They’ll give me less shit anyway.” 

“They won’t hand her over to you. You’re a human,” Markus argued. Or would they? Hank still had friends on the force, maybe he was a better option? But that was relying on a human… 

“That’s good, she’ll remember you from the Eden Club!” Connor immediately brightened at the idea. “The policewoman didn’t mention whether releasing her would require paying bail, but she said we could pick her up, so…there shouldn’t be any. You can get her out of there almost half an hour sooner than we can, but drive carefully, okay? And please tell her we made sure Anne is safe. That’s the other Traci,” he clarified, looking at Markus.

“Will do,” Hank said. “See you soon.” The call ended and Markus found himself standing there in the snow with Connor under his arm. 

“I guess we should go back inside?” He mused, looking around them. Standing outside waiting eagerly for Hank to arrive was another option. It WAS nice to have Connor all to himself again, though there were lots of other issues that needed his attention. Niska and Anne were at the top of his list, followed by figuring out what to do with Ralph and hunting down this blue blood-sucking murderer. 

And now paying Hank back.

Connor carefully tucked the phone into his pocket again and looked at Markus. His dark eyes shone in the light from the windows across the yard. 

“All of this…and I thought things were overwhelming before…” He shook his head, stepping a bit closer to rest a hand lightly on Markus’ shoulder. “Are you okay?” It was the uncertain start of a hug, but he stopped and waited for a response.

Speaking of overwhelming, Markus thought, feeling nervous from the closeness. 

“Just another day in the life,” he told Connor solemnly. “I’ll be better once Niska’s back.” He sighed, then shook his head slowly. “I thought everything was getting better.” 

“My problems seem so small by comparison,” Connor said, looking back at their deep footprints in the snow. He let go of Markus and took a step back, looking troubled. “I’ll help you solve the murders, Markus, I promise.”

Markus immediately regretted not going for a hug while he had the chance. 

“Thank you,” he managed. Bracing himself for the worst, he stepped in closer and gently caught Connor in his arms. 

The other android froze for a second, then hugged tightly around him, resting his chin on Markus’ shoulder. They fit into each other’s arms perfectly, although Connor’s scarf ended up draped over Markus’ shoulder courtesy of the wind.

“I hope Niska’s okay,” Connor murmured after a moment, but made no move to let go of him. “I hope Hank and I don’t scare her.” He stepped a bit closer to Markus, leaning against his chest, and sighed. “A few of the others seem…bothered by me being here.”

“As long as you aren’t here to chase her and Anne down, I think she’ll be fine.” Markus hugged him back, resting both hands on Connor’s back. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d hugged someone else. Somehow, Connor felt warm to the touch. 

“Markus?” Someone called to them. Markus glanced and spotted the VS400 from earlier on the front steps, arms wrapped around himself as the wind blew his hair around his face. 

Letting go of Connor, Markus took a big step back and acknowledged the VS400 with a wave. 

“Niska is on the way,” he called over. The VS400’s face brightened with a smile and he turned to go back inside, leaving them alone again. Markus suddenly noticed several silhouettes from inside the house watching through the windows. He also remembered the lookout on the second story. 

Everyone had seen that hug. He could almost hear the concerned voices of his people warning him against Connor’s human-loving ways already.

Connor was back to looking troubled, brows pinched. He was definitely glancing toward the house until Markus looked at him; after that, he turned his gaze down to the snow again, frowning. A big gust of wind blew his hair sideways and sent his scarf ends fluttering, and he wrapped his arms around himself.

“I don’t think it’s safe for Hank to go inside the house when he gets here.” He sounded sad to have to say it.

“What? Connor, nobody here would hurt Hank,” Markus told him, trying to hide the hurt in his voice.

“One of them called me a traitor earlier,” Connor replied glumly, looking at him. “And I don’t think he was talking about turning on CyberLife and infiltrating their tower to help the Revolution. He even told me to stay away from you, and your people love you, Markus — he must think I’m a threat to you somehow to say that.”

Glancing back up at the house, Markus could hardly believe his friend’s words. Someone told him to stay away? Called him a traitor? Traitor to WHAT? Connor was standing with Markus on that stage after the revolution, side by side, for all the world to see that he supported android freedom. He was as treasured as North, Josh and Simon were. A valued friend and one of Markus’ closest allies. 

“Who said that?” He asked at long last, moving in to place a hand on Connor’s arm.

The other android shrugged the tiniest bit, looking at him.

“I shouldn’t say… Does it matter? He can’t be the only one who thinks that. Even to the friendlier people here, I’m an outsider. An outsider who used to work for the police, HUNTING Deviants. I can understand their apprehension.”

“Connor,” Markus said sadly, taking both of his friend’s hands in his and squeezing them. “Of course it matters. You freed thousands of us and here you are again, willing to hunt down a murderer for us. Whoever it was that threatened you, I’m so sorry. You matter to our people, to our cause… You matter to me.” 

“You’re the last person who needs to apologize to me,” Connor said, squeezing his hands, too. Big brown eyes gazed into Markus’, earnest and open. “I woke up because of you. I’m FREE because of you. Do you know how amazing that is? I’ve only been around four months, and three of those, I was a machine.” The wind unwound his scarf, leaving one end waving longer than the other, but Connor kept hold of his hands rather than reach for it. 

“Maybe I haven’t been through the things some people in that house have been through,” he said, glancing at it. “Maybe I really am an outsider, in that regard. But if they think Hank somehow OWNS me or would ever want to, they’re mistaken.”

“I know. Hank’s a good guy. Just like Carl. Whenever I was home with Carl, I felt safe. Loved,” Markus said, memories of Carl’s knowing smile vivid in his mind. He couldn’t help a small smile himself. “Is that how you feel when you’re home with Hank?”

“I feel like I’m home,” Connor replied simply, smiling too. “I’m perfectly safe, and he knows he is, too. If I have anything like a family, it’s Hank and Sumo.” He nodded at the house again. “Do they feel safe here? While I’m not here, I mean.”

“No,” Markus told him honestly. “I can’t seem to give them that. Not yet.” He looked down at their hands, tracing Connor’s knuckles with his thumbs absently. Throughout history, civil rights movements never got traction until those in power decided to help. 

As hard as androids had fought, they had a long way to go before the general public accepted them. They needed to work on their PR, which meant talking to Simon again. Markus couldn’t remember the last time he’d disagreed with Simon. Even when he had had to make tough choices that the blond didn’t agree with, Simon had his back. He had faith in Markus. 

Glancing at the house again, Markus sighed. He had to let Simon go on his date, even if that meant watching Ralph himself.

Connor squeezed his hands, sighing too. 

“I hope Niska isn’t hurt. If she is, Hank might get himself into a fight.” It would probably take the ex-cop at least half an hour to drive here. They really ought to go inside…but everybody was waiting in there.

“Come on. Let’s wait inside,” Markus suggested gently, letting go of Connor’s hands. “You’re right. Simon should be able to do whatever he wants. I need to find a place for Ralph until he gets back.” He started slowly toward the house.

“Markus.” He could hear the snow shifting as Connor stepped quickly after him. “You were right that it’s not safe for him to go walking around alone after dark in this weather. That’s true for humans and androids alike.”

“What am I supposed to do? I can’t force him to stay home.” Markus frowned at the door to the house, pausing long enough to tap his boots off against the bottom step to the porch.

Connor stopped and did the same carefully. 

“Apologize,” he suggested. “Sincerely, about the interacting with humans part of the conversation. And then clarify that he can go wherever he wants tomorrow, but tonight it’s too dangerous for anybody to be out and about.” The wind gusted his hair sideways as he gestured out into the darkened yard with a small frown. “It IS too dangerous. Not because his girlfriend is human, but because three murder victims were found nearby and the killer is still at large.”

Markus stared at the dark, snow covered yard, then at Connor. 

“Would you come with me? Maybe he’d listen to you.” 

Simon had been so distracted by the human woman. He was starting to act strange. Was that normal when someone started dating? 

Connor looked surprised at the request, but shrugged. 

“Okay. Lead the way.”


	8. Sleepover

“Yes, that Markus,” Kara repeated into the phone. The man on the other side seemed to think that this call was some kind of joke. “I’m trying to find a contact phone number for him, and the internet doesn’t seem to have it.”

A few more comments from the man, and it was clear that he didn’t have the number, either. Hanging up, Kara sighed and ran her fingers through her short blond hair. She and Alice and Luther had checked into their tiny motel room several hours ago, and Kara had been calling around for most of that time with no luck. 

After bringing about android freedom in the Revolution, Markus was famous, and nobody wanted to just hand out his contact information. If Kara could just have one conversation with him, she was sure he would help them. There had to be a way. Maybe she could figure out how to contact one of his friends.

Turning to Alice curled up on the bed, Kara ran her hand gently over the little girl’s hair.

“How are you feeling, Alice?” She tried to keep the sadness out of her voice. They didn’t have any time to waste.

Soft brown eyes looked up at her from over the pillow that Alice was hugging in her arms. 

“I’m sleepy and my tummy hurts” Alice mumbled, eyes fluttering. 

Luther was sitting behind the little girl on the other side of the bed. He took up half the bed with how large he was. He leaned to pat Alice’s back gently. 

“Soon you’ll be feeling better,” Kara promised, “And we’ll be on our way home to Rose’s place again. Maybe even tomorrow.” Inwardly, she went over any other options they had. Markus was the trustworthy person to talk to, but there were probably riskier options. They were in the United States, where biocomponents were probably available somewhere for those with enough money who didn’t ask too many questions. 

Turning to the motel’s little desk computer, she typed in a few new search terms. YK500. Biocomponents. Buying and selling. With androids legally people in this country, it was amazing how different the approaches to these things were — there was a website from a company called FutureSight offering exactly those things brand new. 

The prices were insanely high, though. Impossibly high. There was no way…

Determined, Kara tried searching for Markus by his home address instead. He was a citizen now, so he had one, right? If there was one thing that was impossible for famous people to hide, it was where they lived. 

Markus was no different. He and the other androids from the Revolution were housed in government-issued buildings across town, according to several news articles that came up. 

“Luther, I think I know where we need to go,” Kara told him, smiling. She was so relieved. If they could see Markus, they could save Alice. 

Luther smiled and stood up, circling the bed to join her at the desk. 

“We should leave now.”

Standing too, Kara glanced over at Alice and nodded. She looked up at Luther, smiling sadly. 

“You’re right. The weather’s awful, but we could call a taxi and keep her out of the middle of it.” 

Kara was very grateful for her job at the hair salon back home in Canada. She’d only been hired a couple of weeks ago, but her first paycheck was helping them to travel and get things like the motel. Now they would be spending most of the rest on a taxi, but reaching Markus would be worth it. They had to.

“Come on, Alice,” she told the girl gently, sitting beside her and placing a hand on her shoulders. “We’ve got to go for a ride now, okay? Luther can carry you to the car.” She nodded to the towering android and smiled, stepping quickly away from the bed to put in the call for the taxi. 

Maybe they really would be going home tomorrow after all.  


* * *

  
Markus had been distracted by the same VS400 that had warned Connor away, so they had no chance to go upstairs to Simon’s room before the front door slammed open. 

The dozen or so androids around the door scrambled away from the new arrival. 

Hank held up his hand apologetically. 

“Sorry. It was the wind,” he added half-heartedly. He was coated in snow and had Niska under one arm. She had blue stains on her chin and the collar of her sweater dress, and it was immediately clear to Connor that Hank had gotten in a fight. His lip was split. The old man looked around the crowd. “Anyone seen Connor?” 

“Niska, are you alright?” Markus pushed his way back to the front door and took the brunette by the shoulders, looking her over. “What happened?”

Connor hurried over, too, grabbing Hank’s arm like he might try to run off back to his car as soon as he delivered Niska to them. The android frowned at the split lip but didn’t comment on it. A quick scan told him there were no serious injuries on the man, although he definitely detected a few new bruises.

“Thank you for getting there so quickly,” he told Hank, looking over at Niska sadly. She hadn’t answered Markus yet.

“I’m alright,” Niska said, keeping her chin high. “Where’s Anne?” 

“She’s upstairs with North.” Markus looked so hurt as he led Niska to the stairs. His pale eyes kept flicking down to the blue blood on her chin. 

The Traci wasted no time in hurrying off upstairs, without so much as a thank you thrown at Markus or Hank. 

Hank watched her go before turning his attention to Connor. He batted his hands away and shook his head. 

“Yeah, no problem.”

Between that and how hurt Markus looked, Connor was struggling to keep his troubled feelings off of his face. 

“Did they say the woman is actually pressing charges? We have the tablet the policewoman gave us, and it was just demanding that she pay a bill without any due process at all,” he explained to Hank.

“Don’t worry about that,” Hank told him. He leaned around Connor and slapped Markus’ shoulder, which actually startled the deviant leader. “The case has been dropped. The arresting officer is facing some, uh, legal charges. It was you-know-who,” he added in a whisper to Connor, making a disgusted face. 

The alarm on Markus’ face dropped away to be replaced with misty mismatched eyes as he leaned to catch Hank in a big hug. 

“Thank you,” Markus said sincerely. “Thank you, Hank.” 

Hank was frozen in place, hands floating at Markus’ sides. 

“You’re welcome,” he said around Markus’ shoulder. 

Connor smiled warmly at them both. The androids here didn’t understand that some humans were like Hank — good people. He hoped this helped them see it, and that they saw Markus getting along with Hank as something good. 

He also hoped that you-know-who, also known as one Detective Gavin Reed, actually faced some repercussions for his actions this time. Gavin had been utterly hateful toward androids for the entire time Connor had known him (which was only during the deviant case, really) and having the law declare them people obviously wasn’t enough to change that.

“Hank, maybe you should stay here until it gets light out,” Connor suggested. He didn’t want Hank to know about him going to a crime scene tomorrow, but the weather was also dangerous out there, and it was the middle of the night.

Escaping Markus’ hug, Hank nodded. 

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea. It’s still snowing. Do you guys have a bed around here?” He asked the room. 

“No, I’m sorry, we don’t.” The same VS400 from before stepped out of the crowd and smiled apologetically at Hank. “All our beds are taken by the most critically damaged.” 

“Hey, no problem. I can sleep standing up,” Hank told him with a shrug. 

The VS400 frowned. 

“There’s a couch in the living room,” Markus offered. “It’s not very clean…” 

“Look, it’ll be fine. I’ve slept on my face in the backyard before.” 

“I’ll get some ice for your face,” Markus added, ducking through the crowd. 

“Hey, you don’t—” Hank called after him, giving up as Markus disappeared into what Connor remembered was the kitchen. 

Connor placed a hand on Hank’s shoulder, giving the VS400 a meaningful look. The conversation with Markus on the porch was replaying in his head. He hoped Markus understood if he stayed by Hank for the night to keep him safe.

“You can have my jacket for a pillow, Hank,” Connor told him, waving for him to follow. He remembered where the living room was. 

“I have my own jacket. Keep yours,” Hank told him, carefully stepping over an android without legs. 

The living room was as busy as the rest of the house. A variety of battered chairs lined the walls, along with what looked like a park bench and a beat up brown leather couch. 

A jittery TR400 was seated on one side of the couch and a skinless WE900 was at his side, carefully picking her way through a busted open section in the TR400’s neck. Both of their LEDs were flashing yellow, alluding to a private conversation. 

Hank raised an eyebrow. 

Connor looked at the other androids sympathetically. They were so damaged. What must have happened to them, to end up like that?

“The media thinks the revolution is over,” he told Hank softly, glancing over the rest of the androids in the room. “Androids got legal recognition as people, so the world considers it settled — the news isn’t reporting on situations like this.” 

“It takes time to change people’s minds. Remember how I was when WE met?” Hank nudged Connor. “I fuckin’ hated you.” 

A PL600 looked their way, the spitting image of Simon only with mouse brown hair and one missing eye. He was watching Hank very intently as they passed. 

Hank noticed and said nothing, making his way over to the couch.

Connor stepped after him, glancing at the PL600. Connor nodded in acknowledgment at him.

“It was easier to hate androids when you didn’t know any very well,” he agreed. “That’s what I mean. If the media won’t tell anyone about them, people can keep being ignorant and hating what they don’t understand.” He wanted to help Markus fix it. Ideas were already formulating in his head on how exactly to garner media attention, whether by shock or by empathy.

Hank took a seat on the far end of the couch, resting an elbow on the arm. The two androids on the other end glanced his way and went back to their wireless conversation. 

“Connor, we’ll all be dead before the media starts telling the truth. I say, get out there and show ‘em who you are. Be yourself. Use that goofy face of yours.” 

“Here,” Markus said, returning from the kitchen with a baggy full of what looked like snow and offering it to Hank. 

“Thanks.” Hank took it and pressed it to his lip.

Connor turned to Markus, troubled. He wanted to go talk to Simon with him as promised. He also wanted to talk to Niska and Anne, who he’d never had a proper conversation with. Leaving Hank alone, though… There were at least two androids in the house who outright hated humans, and it didn’t feel safe.

Realizing he was just giving Markus a sad-eyed stare, Connor retreated to fidgeting with his scarf. 

“I’m so glad you got the charges against Niska dropped, Hank. We were trying to come up with a lawyer to represent her in court,” he admitted. If they had any ability to, they really should be suing back for the illegal way this entire thing played out, but they had no lawyers or money.

“Yeah, well, Gavin’s full of shit. Jeffrey knows I’M not. He wants to make a stink outta this after shooting a bunch of innocent androids in the fucking streets, I’m gonna go over his head.” 

Out of the corner of his eye, Connor saw Markus nod sadly, clearly bothered by Hank’s words. 

“Hank, I know I keep saying this, but thank you—” 

“How’s your dad?” Hank looked pointedly at Markus, daring him to apologize again. 

“…Carl?” Markus asked in confusion, frowning. 

“Who else?” Hank grumbled, sitting back against the couch. 

“He’s alright. He’s stuck in bed half the time again, but he’s stable. He started painting again. He said he has things to say to people about androids now.” 

“You paint?” Hank asked. 

“No. No, I don’t paint anymore,” Markus replied, shifting on his feet. The line of questioning seemed like it was making him uncomfortable.

Connor had heard that Markus could paint, too, and wondered what kind of paintings he would make. Would they be like Carl’s work? Elijah Kamski had had several of Carl’s paintings on the walls when Hank and Connor had visited his home. Connor had no idea what made a painting good or not, but the works had obviously been done by a masterful hand.

“North mentioned that you can play the piano,” Connor said, to shift the subject away from painting. With a small smile, he added, “And we all heard you sing on the news. I wish I had any one of those abilities.”

Markus froze up, staring Connor down. 

“I don’t have time for that kind of thing,” he said at last, turning to Hank. “Has Connor told you about WHY he’s here?” 

“No. Why?” Hank asked, intrigued.

“Oh, I — I’m here to help Markus,” Connor said quickly, smiling to try and cover his uneasiness. “With a project.” Maybe if he told Hank he was investigating a murder, Hank would understand… Then again, Hank thought it was unsafe for Connor to even be here in the house, never mind out on the streets.

“Yeah,” Hank said slowly, nodding and watching them both. “A project. You said that earlier.” 

“I just figured that with Connor’s unique skill set, he’d be the best option,” Markus clarified. 

Hank sat forward on the couch and rested his elbows on his knees, squeezing the baggy of ice. 

“Best option for what? His classes?” 

“No, not his classes.” Markus turned to Connor for help. “Do you want to tell him?” 

“Tell me what?” Hank asked sharply, quirking an eyebrow in Connor’s direction.

Connor looked at the toes of his shoes. He couldn’t really avoid it now — they sounded too suspicious, and Hank wasn’t stupid.

“Three androids were found dead near here,” Connor began, straightening up. He put on a determined look, focusing on Hank. “They were all drained of every drop of blue blood, and each had two marks on the torso. Something used suction to remove the blood, Hank, like a — a vampire. Markus and I are going to the crime scene tomorrow so that I can attempt to reconstruct what happened.”

Hank sat back into the couch and thought it over for a moment. Then he pointed to Markus. 

“You’re mixing Connor up in a MURDER case?” 

“With his background in criminal investigation, it made sense.” 

“Uh huh,” Hank grunted. “And you are gonna keep him safe. Far, far away from the actual killer. Right?” 

Markus squared his shoulders and nodded. 

“Connor’s just helping with the investigation. Once we have enough evidence to build a case, we’ll hand our findings over to the police—” 

“No, no. You’re gonna hand them over to ME, and I’ll make sure they don’t get ‘lost’ when they go to the police station.” 

“Thank you, Hank,” Markus said, stepping closer. Hank held up a hand. 

“No more hugs.” 

“The killer might turn out to be too close to avoid,” Connor pointed out. He couldn’t be too annoyed, though — Hank cared what happened to him, but wasn’t trying to stop him from helping. He was glad he’d decided to tell the truth. 

Shifting on his feet, Connor glanced at Markus. “Actually, that reminds me…I really ought to scan Ralph. After examining the bodies, I should be able to see if any of the evidence directly contradicts itself. If it does, he definitely didn’t do this.” 

He had a feeling the twitchy WR600 wasn’t to blame, but evidence was a lot more conclusive than feelings.

“The bodies are here?” Hank sputtered, climbing to his feet. “Of course they are. Where? I wanna help.” 

“The basement,” Markus told him. 

“Alright. I’ll check them out after my nap. Do you know where the nearest coffee shop is?” 

“Three blocks, but it’s not open. It’s eight at night.” Markus crossed his arms. 

“That’s bad business.” Grumbling under his breath, Hank settled in against the arm of the couch and closed his eyes. 

“I hope Simon’s date was okay with waiting for him.” Markus shook his head and started back across the room. 

Connor glanced between him and Hank, wondering what to do. The androids here had all seen Markus hugging Hank, and Hank bringing Niska home. Would anyone here dare try to hurt him after all of that?

Probably not.

“Good night, Hank,” Connor told him nicely, patting his shoulder. He stepped quickly after Markus, already uneasy about whether it was the right decision. They didn’t even have a blanket for Hank to use, or a bed, or coffee when he woke up. Sumo must be all alone at home, wondering where everyone went. Aww, Sumo…

“Night, Connor,” Hank mumbled sleepily after them.


	9. Heart

They made it upstairs without any more distractions. Everyone seemed to have settled in for the night. Though no one truly needed to sleep, many of them were powered off. 

Markus made his way quietly down the hall to a plain brown door with perfectly straight letters labeling the room as ‘Simon’s.’ He knocked lightly. 

“Yes?” Came the soft reply from inside. “Shh,” he heard Simon say next. “It’s probably Josh.” 

“Maybe we’re not home,” Ralph muttered in response, sounding suspicious. “Ralph’s not home. You tell them.” A tiny shuffling sound followed, and Connor concluded that the WR600 had hidden somewhere. Too bad he needed to scan Ralph, so hiding wasn’t going to work this time.

Connor stepped up to the door and opened it the tiniest crack, speaking through it. 

“Simon? It’s Connor. Markus is with me. Could we come in?”

The blond appeared around the edge of the door, big blue eyes worried. He relaxed when he saw that Markus actually WAS with Connor, and opened the door to let them in. 

“Hello again Connor. Markus,” he added, watching at they both stepped inside. Simon tucked his hands behind his back. “How can I help you?” 

His room was sparsely decorated with a trio of stools, an old plastic folding card table and several stacks of books on the floor around the room. A couple of wooden cupboards and shelves buried in knick knacks lined the walls, and a dark green tarp was nailed onto the exposed boards in the ceiling.

Connor had to give Ralph credit — he couldn’t tell where the WR600 was hiding after a quick scan of the room. Focusing on Simon, he put on an earnest expression.

“Niska’s home safe, and the charges against her are all dropped. We weren’t sure you heard yet since you’ve been here with Ralph,” he said. Muffled muttering came from somewhere near the shelves.

“I’m glad she’s home.” Simon smiled. Markus stepped forward awkwardly. 

“Simon, I’ll take care of Ralph if you want to go on your date but — Connor made a good point — it’s too dangerous to go anywhere at night. Can you reschedule for lunch?” 

“I already called her and told her I couldn’t make it tonight,” Simon explained, glancing back into the room. “I didn’t have the heart to leave Ralph by himself, anyways. Not until he’s settled in.” 

“But I had no place telling you what you can and can’t do. I’m sorry.” 

Simon turned back to Markus and smiled again. 

“There’s nothing to apologize for, Markus. I know you meant well.” 

“No-one here wants to see you get hurt,” Connor told the blond, “But we don’t want to assume that your girlfriend is someone who would hurt you, either. That’s not fair.” He tucked his hands behind his back, echoing Simon’s posture, and added apologetically, “I need to scan Ralph, but I don’t think he’s going to come out of hiding if I call for him.”

“Why do you want to scan him?” Simon asked, frowning. “You make him very uncomfortable.” 

“Connor can look for signs that Ralph was involved in the murder,” Markus offered. “Ralph? Can you come out? We need to talk to you.” 

There was more muttering from the shelves’ general vicinity.

“Hopefully all I’m going to do is clear him of any accusations once and for all,” Connor told Simon, sighing. Ralph obviously had encountered the ugly side of humanity to end up so fearful of them.

Ralph reluctantly poked his head out around the back of one of the shelves, mismatched eyes flicking quickly to look at Markus and Connor, then Simon, then back to the others again.

“Ralph’s here,” he said softly. It was a bit creepy along with the staring, Connor had to admit.

Simon went over to him, offering a hand to help him out from behind the shelf. 

“They just want to help. Remember when the others thought you killed androids? If Connor scans you, he can tell the others that it wasn’t you.” 

Markus followed Simon, his arms carefully at his sides. Even after leaving Simon alone with Ralph for hours, he seemed like he was ready to jump in and separate them if needed. 

Ralph accepted Simon’s hand, letting the other blond help him to his feet. He was focused on Connor as soon as he heard the plan, expression grim.

“Ralph didn’t kill them. You’ll see. He just found them,” he said, all in that almost monotone rapid-fire way of his. 

“Hold still and I will see,” Connor instructed, trying to make it sound friendly rather than like an order. Ralph didn’t seem capable of holding perfectly still; even when he was trying to and standing up straight, his head or shoulder would twitch from time to time. 

Connor focused carefully, sweeping his gaze up and down over the other android. The scan caught a few details immediately, and he glanced through them one by one, analyzing. It didn’t take long, just a moment or two, but he was perfectly silent while doing do.

There were traces of thirium on Ralph’s hands and bits of his clothes, even on his boots. Blue blood, either his or somebody else’s. It wasn’t nearly enough to account for even one of the drained androids, though.

Frowning, Connor sat up straight and held out his hand.

“Could you please hold out your hand?”

“Why?” Ralph looked suspicious of the request. “You can see Ralph’s hands from here.”

“I need to touch them,” Connor explained. “To analyze the traces on them.”

Simon put a hand on Ralph’s back and guided him a bit closer with a smile. 

“It’s okay. They won’t hurt you.” 

Markus stood guard nearby, watching as Simon gently offered Ralph’s hand he had been holding to Connor. 

Holding Ralph’s hand carefully, Connor ran a finger over the other android’s palm and lifted it to his mouth, tasting the traces he’d picked up. Blue blood. Serial numbers whirled though his head, match, not match, match match… 

He frowned, troubled. This blood belonged to one of the victims, but…there just wasn’t enough of it on Ralph. And it was only from one of them.

“Ralph, did you touch the dead androids?”

Ralph fidgeted, tugging at his hand a tiny bit, but didn’t really try to move away. He looked away around the room, then sidelong at Simon. That seemed to work, because he kept looking at Simon while talking.

“When he — yes. Ralph saw them outside, they were all just laying there, s-so he tried to wake them. He didn’t hurt them. He didn’t,” he insisted, a bit desperately now. “He just wanted to help. Ralph just wanted to be nice. His house is big. They could come in. Ralph didn’t kill them. He just wanted to be nice.”

Both Markus and Simon looked really surprised as Simon spoke gently to Ralph. 

“It’s alright. I believe you.” Simon turned to Connor next and smile tightly. “Glad we cleared that up.” 

“Y-yeah,” Markus mumbled. “So they were already dead when you found them. No one was near them?” 

Ralph quickly shook his head.

“No, Ralph saw no-one. He heard a sound. He looked outside. They were laying there, so Ralph went to them.” He got shifty-eyed again, looking around anxiously before once again settling on Simon for a focus point. “They wouldn’t wake up. Ralph turned one over, and his face — he was shut down. Shut down. Then the others came, and and and they chased Ralph, and he ran into the house. The knife — he told Markus about the knife. He — it was self-defense! He tried to scare them, to get them to go away, but the girl—” 

Suddenly going perfectly still and calm, Ralph turned to Markus. “Is she okay? Did Ralph hurt her?”

“He means North?” Connor asked, turning to Markus as well.

“She didn’t seem hurt,” Markus said with a frown. “I’ll check on her later. Ralph, Simon needs to go out tomorrow. Would you be okay staying here without him? You’re safe here. I promise.” 

Ralph turned and looked at Simon worriedly. 

“Ralph’s used to being alone. Will Simon be safe? You won’t go near the humans, will you?”

Connor let go of his hand, stepping back. Having the other android’s account of what happened at the crime scene would help him separate that evidence from what had happened before Ralph arrived, which would definitely be useful for the investigation.

It was a little exciting and a little scary to be able to say Connor was doing an investigation again. On one hand, he was made to do this. On the other hand, he’d never investigated anything while he was a deviant. Would he still be able to be objective about the evidence?

“I…I’ll be safe,” Simon lied, patting Ralph’s shoulder. “I’m not going very far and it’s only for a couple hours.” 

Markus relaxed a bit, more reassured by the blond’s words than Ralph seemed to be. 

“If you don’t come back,” Ralph told Simon solemnly, “Ralph will miss you. He’ll be lonely again…and that makes him sad.” That was about as direct a ‘come back safe’ as they were probably going to hear from him.

“Thank you for helping us, Ralph,” Connor told him politely, smiling. “There’s enough evidence to show that you didn’t hurt the androids, and your information might help us figure out who did, too.”

“Tell the others,” Ralph said, turning to frown at him. “Tell them Ralph didn’t do it. They said they should kill him, but they — they — they’re the ones who took him away and tied him up. You know who does that? HUMANS! They do that, they did it to Ralph, they’ll do it to you…they’ll…” He shook his head, retreating to the back of the room still muttering to himself, and disappeared behind the bookshelves once more.

Simon watched him go sadly. Stepping closer and patting his back, Markus made his way to the door. 

Since they didn’t have a suspect, they had even more of a reason to go out to the crime scene — as soon as it got light.  


* * *

  
While Hank was downing his venti cup of coffee while perched on the hood of the car, Markus paced. Connor would get more information than either of them would. He was made for this kind of work. 

A metallic clink made Markus stop dead and take a step back. The print left by his boot revealed something stained blue under the ice. He knelt and picked at the edges, freeing whatever it was. As he brushed the ice from it, he saw that it was a thirium pump in his hand. None of the bodies had been missing their hearts. Was there another victim? 

About ten feet away, Connor was studying the crime scene intently, kneeling beside one wall of what was apparently Ralph’s old house. It was a very wrecked old building missing half of the side, the roof collapsing in on itself under a blanket of thick snow. 

“The weather covered any footprints well,” Connor sighed, standing. Finally noticing Markus holding something, he stepped quickly over, looking at the blue stains on it. “Is that…?”

“Someone’s heart,” Markus said sadly. Somewhere behind them, Hank growled in disgust. Markus ignored him and went on. “None of the victims were missing their hearts. This has to be from another victim.”

Kneeling side by side with him, Connor frowned and swiped his fingertips over the thirium pump, then licked them. He was analyzing the blue blood sample and Markus knew it. No matter how many times he did it, though, among his otherwise politely socially acceptable behavior licking substances seemed really odd.

“It’s an entirely different serial number,” Connor confirmed worriedly. Glancing around the snowy ground, he added, “That’s a different method of killing than the others. They all appear to have died from the blood loss.”

Somehow, the thirium pump sitting in Markus’ hand felt heavier. Connor’s analysis was disturbing because it meant that the heart might not be related to the crime at all. Just another dead android, laying in the streets, buried in snow. 

He handed it off to Connor and turned to look for any signs of more bodies under the knee-high snow. 

“Markus.” Connor placed a hand on his shoulder. “The rest of the android that this came from could be somewhere else. Maybe they swapped out their thirium pump with a new one.” 

He studied the heart with a sad frown, shaking his head. 

“…The blood has evaporated about the same amount, though, so this happened at nearly the same time as the killings. Perhaps the vampire first tried to kill by stealing hearts, then realized that having circulation still in effect would help the blood leave the body quicker. Maybe they took the owner of this heart with them when they couldn’t get the blood out quickly.”

“They didn’t,” Markus breathed, his eyes coming to rest on the very tips of humanoid fingers sticking out of the snow by the alley. A hole in the snowdrift showed a couple of rusty old trashcans underneath. The body must have been resting against them. 

Markus had seen a lot of bodies on the way to Jericho. This one felt different. This android could have been safe at the complex, had Markus worked harder. He crouched and started to rake away the snow, his eyes threatening to blur with tears. What if it had been North? What if it had been Simon or Josh? 

What if it had been Connor? 

Markus scraped away a handful of ice off of the body’s face and found all too familiar features. A PJ500. Like Josh. He cupped the dead man’s face and stared into his dimmed brown eyes. 

“I’m sorry.”

Connor stepped over to stand beside him, looking down at the body sadly. 

“He looks just like Josh.” He knelt beside Markus again, resting a hand on his back. “There was nothing you could have done for him,” he said gently.

“He was so close,” Markus told him, playing the scenes through his mind. How the PJ500 could have wound up there, dumped like garbage in the alley. 

Why was he waiting for humans to bring androids in? Why wasn’t he out finding them? Proving to everyone that he loved his people and could protect them? How selfish was he to want to spend time with Connor or paint when people were being murdered in the streets? 

As terrible as he felt about his attention spent on Connor, he turned and hugged the other android close. Maybe that was why someone had threatened Connor. They knew Markus was being selfish. 

Arms wrapped around him and held him, Connor rubbing his shoulders slowly. 

“I know. I also know if you knew he was here, you would have helped him,” he murmured, resting his chin on Markus’ shoulder. “They can’t all come to you on their own, and you can’t go to everyone who needs you at once, Markus. There’s only one of you, and there are thousands of androids still out here unaccounted for… I know if you could, you would help every last one of them. I would help you.”

Markus clung to him, staring at the snowflakes drifting down on their heads. Connor WAS one of the people he had to protect. A person that was relying on Markus to build a better world. 

“Help me catch the killer. Help me keep them safe. Please,” he added sadly, slipping a hand up to wipe the tears from his cheeks. 

Connor sat back from the hug enough to look him in the eyes. His own dark ones were shining with determination.

“We’ll catch him,” he vowed. “We won a revolution, Markus — one serial killer doesn’t stand a chance.” He sounded absolutely confident about what he was saying, matter-of-fact. “We’ll catch him, and we’ll protect the people who can’t protect themselves. Right now, that means that I need to compare evidence. I need to scan him.”

Markus nodded and let him go, stepping back and drying his face. As silly as it felt, after that conversation, he couldn’t help worrying what Hank thought of the hug. He was surprisingly scary for an old man. 

Connor wasted no time dusting snow off of the body, revealing the torso with its shirt torn open. There was an empty cavity where the PJ500’s heart should have been, bits of his white plastic base form showing near the edges. Gently, Connor lifted one of his hands and scanned over it. He repeated it for the other hand, then drew the shirt aside to reveal twin stab marks just like the other victims had had. 

Getting to his feet, Connor studied the area. He blinked a few times, so rapidly it was almost a fluttering motion, and then sat up straight.

“I think I know why they took his heart out.” 

“Why?” Markus asked, staring down at the corpse rather than Connor. The sadness he was drowning in was suddenly replaced with hope. Every clue they found brought them a step closer to catching the killer. 

“There isn’t much information about the killer’s movements, but I could reconstruct where this man’s body was thrown and how,” Connor explained. He gestured to where Markus had found the heart. “The blood on his heart is slightly less evaporated than the traces I found on Ralph’s hands. And he was killed more violently — they ripped out his heart and tossed him aside before draining him like the others.”

He paused and gave Markus an apologetic look for the blunt explanation. “The snow near his heart is also soaked through with light traces of thirium seeping up from below. A great deal of blue blood must have been spilled beneath it. Markus, I think this man arrived while the killer was draining the others. I think he tried to stop the killer and save them.”

Without hesitation, Markus ducked past Connor and knelt, breaking the man free of his ice prison and hoisting him up on his shoulders. He stood up awkwardly on the snow and headed for the car. 

“That means he saw the killer. If his biocomponents aren’t too damaged, we might be able to get an image of what the monster looks like.” 

“I don’t think there’s anything else to find here,” Connor admitted, stepping after him. He glanced back at the scene of four deaths and frowned, pausing. “I’ve got his serial number now, so I can compare it against the blood traces found on the other evidence. Wait…” 

He hurried back and knelt down, scooping up from snow from the thirium spot and putting it in his mouth. After a moment he frowned and dug down to the ground, tossing snow aside with both hands. When he reached the frozen dirt, he swiped at it and licked his fingers intently. 

“I knew it…it’s a blend.”

“Connor! Jesus!” Hank shouted over from the car as he opened the door for Markus. 

Markus carefully placed the frozen body into the backseat and closed the door. He paused with a hand on the door for a moment before he went back to Connor. 

“A blend? They mixed the blood?” 

Connor stood and dusted his hands on his pants, looking a little sheepish about suddenly running to eat crime scene samples.

“Yes. I don’t think they care about the serial numbers — this is a blend of all three victims’ blood.”


	10. Wednesday

“Why would they blend it? It’d be useless.” Markus looked the scene over once more, wondering if there were any more bodies hidden under the snow, waiting to be discovered. Dismissing the thought, he patted Connor’s back lightly. “We should go. It’s Wednesday.”

“Maybe the instrument they were using to extract the blood wasn’t cleaned properly between victims,” Connor mused, stepping after him and back to the car. “And what do you do around here on Wednesdays?”

Markus opened the front passenger side door for Connor.

“You’ll see,” he told the other android. With everything Connor had been through, it was unlikely he’d be impressed or surprised by what happened on Wednesdays — but it was probably Markus’ second favorite day of the week. The other was when he got to see Connor on Mondays. 

Connor gave him a thankful look and climbed into the car. He caught a glimpse of the frozen PJ500 in the back seat and quickly averted his eyes toward the front window, troubled. 

“It sounds like something nice. Everyone there could use more of that.”

Markus caught a quirked eyebrow from Hank before he shut the door. With one final glance at the crime scene, he circled the car to climb in. With any luck, they’d have a lead on the killer before the end of the day.  


* * *

  
The drive back was very icy. Connor and the others arrived back at the complex, which had been lovingly named ‘New Jericho’ complete with a new metal sign on the gate. The letters were hand written and perfectly precise, though in classic cursive rather than CyberLife’s font. 

Markus quietly took the body down to the basement to store with the others and as Connor and Hank stood waiting for him just inside the door, Connor noticed that there were even more androids in the main house than the day before. Everyone was much happier, exchanging smiles with each other and even casting a few in Connor and Hank’s direction.

The androids all stood eagerly in a lineup around the living room, side by side. Connor recognized the one-eyed PL600 and the VS400 that had threatened him among them. 

Hank watched the bustle quietly, arms crossed and chin down. 

“Hey,” he said, nodding to the door. “I’m gonna circle back to that coffee shop for breakfast. Are you okay on your own here for awhile?”

Remembering that Hank hadn’t had anything to eat today, Connor felt a little guilty for dragging him out to the crime scene first thing. At least he’d had coffee.

“I’ll be fine,” he assured Hank, nodding quickly. “I’m going to stay right here with Markus and the others until you get back. Now that I have a phone, I could even call and check in with you if we’re apart too long.” 

He wondered if Sumo was lonely in the house by himself. The thought made him sad, but he reminded himself that before he met Hank, the man was out and about working most days, and Sumo was used to being home alone a lot. Maybe Connor missed the dog and was projecting a bit? What an idea.

“That’s the idea,” Hank chuckled. He gave Connor a wave and ducked out the door. The coffee shop wasn’t far. 

“There are a lot of people, but we just have to stay for the first one. I want you to see what Markus does,” Connor heard Simon explaining as he tried to lead Ralph down the stairs. A couple of androids were perched there and gave them curious glances. 

He got surprisingly little resistance, although Ralph kept glancing around them quickly like he had to double check that none of the people in the room were human. His posture was rigid, and he had a tight grip on Simon’s hand as the other blond led him along.

“So many,” he said softly, “So many…” 

Connor stood near the base of the stairs, taking care not to block their path. Everyone here was waiting for Markus with such anticipation, like it was a speech or a parade they were about to see.

Simon spotted him and smiled pleasantly, coming to stop on the last step hand in hand with Ralph. 

“Good morning Connor. Has Markus arrived yet?”

Connor nodded politely to him, trying to ignore Ralph’s increasingly fidgety behavior over his shoulder. The WR600 was practically hiding behind Simon as soon as he noticed Connor was there, but he clearly didn’t trust anybody else in the room either.

“Yes, he said he’d be right back,” Connor assured Simon. It was best not to mention the part about stowing another dead body in the basement yet.

Simon nodded and led Ralph past, whispering to him. 

“We can stay by the stairs.” 

Connor heard the basement door close and then Markus was at his side, shiny-eyed from crying. He was taking the last death very hard. But as he looked over the crowd of excited androids, he stood taller. 

Connor wanted to pat his shoulder, something, but with everyone watching maybe it was best to just stand aside and let Markus talk to the crowd. Seeing Josh over there across the room made Connor think of the dead android with the same face, too. Pieces of the investigation were playing through the back of his mind, but he was trying to focus on the present. 

Today was obviously a special day for the deviants. Why?

The excitement in the room only grew as Markus crossed the house to stand in the middle of the living room. A hush fell over the room as everyone’s eyes were locked on Markus. 

He slid his coat off of his shoulders and lay it over a chair that had been placed in the center of the room. Then he picked up the two small books off of the seat and turned to address the crowd. 

“Welcome to New Jericho.” Markus’ mismatched eyes looked over the faces around him slowly. “Today’s the day you start your new life. You’ve survived, you’ve struggled…some of you have watched friends die just to be standing here with me now. Let’s have a moment of silence and remember their faces.” As the deviant leader lowered his head, all others followed. Connor saw Simon hug Ralph’s hand close as he closed his eyes. 

Even Ralph closed his eyes, although he stuck to Simon like glue as he did so. Connor glanced around at them all and felt again that he didn’t belong. He didn’t have any other androids he’d been close to and lost, or even ones he’d worked with besides the few he knew from New Jericho. He didn’t have a brave tale of just trying to be a person and never really doing anything wrong until someone threatened his life.

No, Connor had been on the other side of this fight, hunting down deviants just like these while the others all struggled just to be alive. He settled for looking down at the floor. Closing his eyes and playing along felt like some kind of mockery. 

After exactly sixty seconds, everyone lifted their heads to watch Markus again. 

“The murder that occurred two days ago is being investigated. We’re lucky to have Connor and Hank helping us. Please help them in any way. We need to find the killer as soon as possible. For any other news, please see North, Josh or I later. Now,” Markus smiled softly, holding up the two little books, one in each hand, for the androids to see. “Anyone who wants to begin their new life, step forward.” 

The room burst into excitement as several people ushered their friends to step forward. They gathered closer around Markus and he helped adjust them into a circle. 

“Alright. Let’s begin with you,” he told a dark skinned Traci. She looked like she might start crying as Markus placed a hand on her head. “Your serial number no longer defines you — you’re your own person, free to choose how you live. I name you Morgan. You’re free.” 

The Traci, now Morgan, dropped her chin and thanked Markus under her breath, clearly moved by his words. 

Markus went to the next, the VS400, and placed his hand on his head. 

“I name you Nigel. Be free.” 

Nigel was already in tears as he nodded heartily. 

As promised, Simon stepped back past Connor, leading Ralph by the hand. 

“See? Not so bad.” He whispered to the other blond with a smile.

“They’re all so happy,” Ralph whispered back, and Connor was pretty sure he actually giggled. The joy in the room seemed to be making him giddy. As they were moving up the steps, though, he froze and leaned in close to whisper to Simon urgently, “Is it safe to be that happy?”

Connor wasn’t paying much attention to whatever Simon said next. He was too busy watching Markus name each of the remaining androids with just as much care as the first few. Having a name gave the deviants something individual to point at as theirs. It was simple and yet wonderful.

Markus was wonderful, Connor thought sadly. It wasn’t fair that the world’s worries had to rest on his shoulders like this. There had to be more that Connor could do to help.

“And you’re Liam,” Markus told the last android in line, the PL600 with only one eye. He actually stepped in and gave Markus a hug. The room exploded with cheers and clapping, many other androids rushing in to touch Markus. 

Most said thank you, others murmured the familiar ‘rA9.’ Then everyone mingled, shaking hands like they were meeting for the first time. Liam came over and offered Connor his hand with a big smile. 

Connor smiled politely and shook his hand. 

“Hello. My name is Connor,” he said, playing along.

“My name is Liam. It’s very nice to meet you, Connor,” the other said with a bright smile. He wasted no time in hurrying to the next person, who happened to be Niska. She shook his hand and smiled. 

“Hello Liam!” She grinned. Anne was under her other arm, wrapped in an over-sized brown leather jacket, her blue ponytail over her shoulder. 

Liam shook her hand too and moved on happily.

Connor watched him go, then glanced over at Anne and Niska. They looked so much happier than the one glimpse of them he’d had in the church since the Eden Club. He’d never gotten the chance to have a proper conversation with either of them, though, and now was his chance.

Stepping up closer to them, Connor clasped his hands in front of him and stood just far enough to give them space if they wanted it.

“Excuse me,” he said, trying to keep his voice low to let the celebration across the room continue uninterrupted. “Niska? I was hoping to talk to you for a moment. Both of you, actually.”

Anne instantly pressed a little closer to her girlfriend, giving Connor a small frown. 

“What do you want?”

Niska glanced his way, then shifted on her feet to put herself between Connor and Anne. She didn’t seem to be in a talking mood.

Connor looked at her sadly, but made no move to get any closer. 

“I just wanted to apologize for the day we met,” he sighed. “I was still a machine at the time, but I-I realize now that you must have been terrified. I almost shot you. I’m so sorry.” He wanted to ask how Niska was, but he doubted she would tell him. If the two of them never wanted to speak to him again, he could understand why.

Niska turned to look at him, Anne still held close. Her chin was damaged, but the blue blood had faded on the collar of her shirt. 

“…Tell Hank thank you for me,” she said after a moment of considering Connor. 

Anne looped an arm around the other Traci’s waist, and Connor nodded at them both. 

“I promise I will,” he murmured, and stepped back to the base of the stairs. He wasn’t expecting them to say anything in response, but the apology had been a long time coming. Hopefully they didn’t feel threatened by his presence in the house — the way they were clinging to each other suggested they might, and that bothered Connor. More than one android here had personally been hunted by him, although obviously they were the ones who had gotten away in the end. 

Or had turned Connor into a deviant, himself. He glanced around for Markus, then wondered if maybe it was selfish to continue taking up so much of his time. North and Josh and Simon were used to spending more time with him — he was their friend, too.

Markus was still in the middle of the room, talking quietly to several androids. With how hard they had tried to get his attention earlier in the week, it wasn’t surprising that they were taking advantage of talking to him now. 

Parting the crowd and heading to Connor with a frown was the VS400, now named Nigel. He stopped in front of Connor, frown turning sad. 

“Please don’t take him away from us.”

“That was never the plan,” Connor told him quietly. He felt guiltier still, though. These people were lost without Markus, and here he was, taking up Markus’ time for days now. On the other hand, Markus was obviously a little overwhelmed. He was so busy helping the other androids learn to live that he wasn’t taking any time to live for himself. Neither he or the deviants probably wanted to hear that, though.

If they all preferred things this way, maybe it was Connor who was wrong, then. Maybe it WAS living life to the fullest for Markus, helping others find their way. There were others who needed his help a lot more than Connor needed to walk with him, or talk, or play chess.

“Excuse me, Nigel,” he told the VS400, and left the house. Stepping out the front door into the cold and quiet, he drew the new phone from his pocket and dialed Hank to check in. He’d help solve the murders, he decided, and then give New Jericho some space.

“Hey Connor, I’m on my way back now. What’s up?” Hank asked around a bite of food. The sounds of the car’s engine and the crunch of snow could be heard in the background. 

“I’m just…checking in,” Connor said, trying not to sound sad. He didn’t want to just leave without letting Markus know where he was going, but going home with Hank sounded good right now. He wanted to see Sumo and be in the familiar house and not to remind anyone of awful things from the past. 

They could work on the murder case again tomorrow — the other androids needed some time with Markus today anyway. 

“Niska asked me to tell you thank you for your help,” he added, realizing he’d been quiet for a long time. “She’s with Anne again now, they’re both alright.”

“That’s good to hear. That woman’s got nine lives,” Hank said with a chuckle. “Gavin’s on suspension, by the way. Thought you’d like to know.” 

The door behind Connor opened suddenly and out stepped Markus. He stepped up beside Connor, placing a hand on his back. 

“Is everything okay?” Markus asked in a whisper. 

Connor sat up, phone to his ear still, and he was pretty sure the sadness on his face answered that question. He’d thought Markus would be busy for awhile, wouldn’t even notice he’d left yet. He WANTED to spend time with Markus, but that was selfish, wasn’t it?

“Good,” he said into the phone, shifting on his feet. “Hank, I-I have to go. See you when you get back, okay?”

“Thanks for calling. See you in few.” Hank hung up first. 

Markus looked very concerned as he stepped in front of Connor, both hands on his arms. 

“What is it?” 

Connor didn’t know how to explain it to him. It was a feeling — an ugly, overwhelming feeling that he didn’t have a name for yet, one that was telling him he didn’t belong here. That being here harmed others. Having Markus right there made it better and worse all at once.

“I want to help,” Connor said, looking at Markus’ shoulder rather than his face. He thought back on the crowd inside, all gathered just to get to touch Markus, all so overjoyed at a few words from him. It was a happy memory, but it made him want to cry. 

He didn’t fit into any of it. He wasn’t really one of them, and he couldn’t pretend that he was.

“I WILL still help, but I-I don’t think I should stay here.”

“Why?” Markus shook his head. “Did someone say something again? Everyone knows you’re helping us. If someone said something again, please tell me who it was.”

Headlights cut through the snow as Hank’s car pulled up along the curb outside of the front gate to New Jericho. The black car stuck out like a sore thumb in all the fluffy white snow, gathering fresh flakes on its roof. 

Connor quickly shook his head. 

“No, it’s not anyone’s fault. I’m just not the same, Markus. I don’t fit here, I don’t belong here. I swear, I’ll help you catch this murderer, but right now I-I need to go home.”

That was no explanation at all. He didn’t want Markus to feel bad or to worry — that was the last thing he wanted, with all the worries Markus already had weighing on him — but he didn’t have much choice. They were supposed to be looking at the memories of the dead PJ500 tonight…

Markus grew more upset as he shook his head and let go of Connor’s arms. 

“You’re the same. You’re an android. Just like me and North and Josh — and everyone else here.” 

The door to Hank’s car pushed open and the gray haired man stepped out into the snow. He looked their way, waving to Connor. 

Connor glance at him, then back to Markus. He looked so sad. Connor didn’t want to make him sad. 

“I’m the only android who was made to hunt other androids,” he said, eyes downcast again. “I don’t have memories of never hurting anyone — my hands aren’t clean. I remember chasing people, attacking them. I was the enemy, and the people in there don’t need to be reminded of that every time they look at me.”

He stepped down off the porch toward Hank, a bit alarmed at how his breathing would not even out. He couldn’t turn off sadness or crying now, but he was trying his hardest not to show it. If it was just him and Markus, he’d be happy to stay forever. Markus forgave what he used to be the way no-one in the house did. Even that was a bad idea, though, after Amanda… 

He couldn’t even think it right now.

Markus made no motion to stop him, but Connor didn’t hear the door to the house finally open until he was almost to the car.


	11. Damaged

Hank looked past Connor with a frown as the front door to the house shut with a thump. His eyes drifted to the RK800 and he shifted on his feet. 

“Everything okay, son?” 

Connor was already climbing into the passenger seat, strapping his seatbelt automatically. He sniffled and wrapped the scarf up over his mouth, wondering what to do. He hadn’t even told Markus goodbye.

“I just…I-I don’t know,” he admitted, whether Hank could hear him or not.

Hank climbed in and slammed his door, the sound muffled by the snow, before he started the engine again and pulled away from the curb. 

“What do you mean? What’s going on? Did you and Markus have a fight?” There was both concern and anger in his voice as they drove slowly down the icy streets. 

Connor looked at him sadly. 

“No, Markus is…he’s wonderful.” He was tearing up again, and paused to wipe at his eyes. His breath was hitching in the middle — it was strange and he didn’t like it. “I-I’m just intruding, Hank. They don’t feel safe with me there.”

A sturdy hand grabbed his shoulder as Hank sighed. 

“They just aren’t used to you. You’re all androids, but you have your own personalities now. It’s part of being a PERSON. Of course you all got along when you were programmed to be polite! Now you have thoughts and opinions — you gotta get to know each other. Like you and Markus.” 

Connor placed a hand over his, shaking his head.

“No, Hank — they remember me hunting them down. And Markus SHOULD be afraid, but he’s too kind to h-hold me accountable. After I became a deviant, I left my fate up to him. He could have just shot me and I would have let him. Jericho was attacked because of ME leading the police right to it…” He sighed slowly, brushing tears off of his cheeks again, and looked down at his shoes. “They’re afraid of me.”

Hank grumbled incoherently and shook his head. 

“Connor, no offense, but you aren’t a scary guy. Not the real you. That guy you were before wasn’t you. He WASN’T. He was a machine on a mission. I know you, Sumo knows you — you’d never hurt people without a hell of a good reason.” 

Connor had to admit, knowing Hank and Sumo trusted him helped a little. That’s why he’d wanted to go home so badly — at home he didn’t feel like he had anything to prove. Everybody trusted each other. 

Poor Markus had one more weight on his shoulders now, and it wasn’t anything that was his fault…

“I’m sorry,” Connor told Hank softly, letting go of his hand. He hugged around himself and sighed shakily. “I don’t want to hurt anyone. I just want to help.” And to see Markus, and talk to him. He really did enjoy the deviant leader’s company when the rest of the world wasn’t demanding their attention. Thinking back to Markus’ sad eyes right before Connor left made him want to cry again. “Markus didn’t understand — I-I shouldn’t have left.” 

“Well, you could always give him a call—FUCK!” 

Hank slammed on the brakes and the car spun on the ice, bouncing them in their seats as it ended up with its tail end on somebody’s lawn. Hank cursed and spat under his breath, throwing off his seatbelt and diving out of the car. 

“Hello?” He shouted into the snow. “Are you alright?” 

Climbing quickly out of the car as well, Connor left the door open and rushed around to the front end. He hadn’t seen what they’d almost hit, but considering how Hank was talking to it, it must have been a person. It didn’t feel like they had hit anything while driving…

Standing up from the snow about ten feet off of the side of the road was a little girl with her brown hair in pigtails over her shoulders. She was holding her chest and stomach with both hands as she slowly tried to make her way to them. Hank ran to her side, dropping to his knees in the snow and taking her by the shoulders. 

“Oh my god. Did I hit you? Are you okay, kiddo? Let me see,” he told her, the panic and sadness clear in his voice. She looked from his face up to Connor, eyes widening as she recognized him. 

“NO!” She screamed, pushing away from Hank and stumbling. The little girl tried to get to her feet, her legs wobbling under her weight. 

“It’s okay! We’re not going to hurt you!” Hank said quickly as he chased after her. He carefully didn’t touch her, leaning down into her view again. 

Even from a distance, a quick scan told Connor he was looking at an android. A YK500, a very familiar one. No wonder she was afraid of him — he’d chased her and Kara through traffic the day they met. Stunned, Connor stepped around the car, holding out his hands.

“Alice?” He asked.

They’d only seen each other across the room in the church after Connor became a deviant — he’d been more concerned with guilt over what happened to Jericho and with the fact that Markus somehow forgave him at the time.

When Alice turned to look at him, she was sobbing. Seemingly unable to run, she threw herself into Hank’s arms and clung to him. Hank picked her up lightly, patting her back. 

“It’s okay. You know Connor?” He turned so Alice could see Connor and cringed when she started crying harder. Hank hugged her close and stroked her hair, clumsily navigating his way back to the car through the deep snow. 

Connor moved and opened the car door for him, full of guilt. The little girl had obviously been through something awful, and Kara and Luther were nowhere in sight, and now she had to see him and be reminded of another time she was terrified…

“She probably doesn’t remember that I became deviant and joined Markus and the others,” he said sadly. “She remembers me chasing her.” He scanned over Alice now that Hank had carried her closer and quickly shrugged off his jacket, offering it to Hank. “She’s…she’s damaged, Hank. We should keep her warm.”

Damaged was an understatement. Several of her biocomponents were in various stages of failing. Alice was dying.

"Jesus Christ. Who knows how long she’s been out here.” Hank knelt by the car and tucked the coat around Alice, buckling her in safely too. “Is there anyone we can call, honey? Where’s your mom?” 

Alice sobbed and shrank down under the coat, squeezing her eyes shut. 

Hank stood up and nudged Connor’s arm. 

“You ride in the back with her. I’ll call Chris when I get home and see if anyone’s seen Kara.”

Connor wanted to protest that the girl was afraid of him, but Hank was the only one who could drive. He climbed into the seat beside Alice and strapped his seatbelt, nodding. Unwinding his scarf, he turned and wrapped it gently over the little girl’s shoulders, patting it awkwardly into place.

“I’m sorry we scared you, Alice. It’s going to be okay,” he murmured, equally as awkwardly. “We’re going to find your family for you and return you to them.” He was very worried for Kara and Luther now. Even though Connor had hardly met them, he knew they were Alice’s guardians, and Markus had just said earlier that he knew they had gotten safely to Canada. No good scenarios came to mind that ended with the little girl alone and hurt on the streets in the weather…

Alice didn’t say anything in response, instead leaning in her seat to rest her head on Connor’s arm. 

From a closer distance, Connor could see that several of the girl’s primary systems were struggling to work, including her thirium pump. It was pumping out of cycle. The regulator must have been damaged. She was also very cold and her systems were making no effort to increase her internal temperature at all.

Hank managed to get the car off of the curb and started home again, driving a bit faster than before. They were maybe three minutes away from home. 

Connor tucked the scarf up around Alice’s face a little higher, then the jacket. He was worried about how cold she was, but also didn’t want to scare her by putting an arm around her.

“I know you don’t feel that well,” he told her gently, “But soon we’ll be somewhere warm, and you’ll be safe there until we find your family.” Inwardly, he wondered how long she had before one or more of her biocomponents stopped working. 

The thought was too upsetting to focus on long. 

“Hank has a dog,” he told Alice. “Do you like dogs?”

Again, Alice didn’t say anything. She slipped an arm up and held onto Connor’s sleeve. 

They arrived home shortly. Hank carefully pulled in to park and Connor could feel the tires of the car slide a bit on the snow. 

Hopping out of the car, Hank opened the door on Alice’s side and leaned in. 

“Alright, I’m gonna pick you up. Okay?” When Alice looked his way, Hank forced a smile for her benefit as he unstrapped her seatbelt. As carefully as he could, he scooped her up into his arms, coat and all, and started around the car. 

Connor jumped out of the other door and hurried to open the door to the house. For once, he remembered that he had a key and didn’t try to ring the doorbell. By the time Hank arrived, Connor could hold the door for him. 

“We’re home, Sumo!” He called into the house. It was better not to startle the Saint Bernard if they could help it.

A woof of joy was heard and then Sumo came barreling around the couch, fluffy tail wagging eagerly when he saw Connor. The large dog hurried to him and licked at his hand. 

Hank came in with Alice and dodged around the curious dog, placing the little girl on the couch. 

“There you go, kiddo. I’m gonna call a friend and see if he can find your mom. Okay?” Hank told Alice, dragging a blanket over her. He hurried off, pulling his phone from his pocket. 

Alice watched him go, huddling up under the blanket and looking around the apartment with big worried eyes. 

Connor knelt down and pet Sumo’s back, reaching under the plastic cone to scratch his ears for him.

“Did you miss me? I’m sorry I was gone so long!” He looked over at Alice, mustering a smile. “This is Sumo. He’s very soft and warm. Maybe he could sit with you.” If nothing else, the big lazy dog might be comforting to cuddle with. More comforting than Connor, certainly.

Alice peeked over the couch at the dog. Sumo looked her way, tongue hanging out in a pant. He padded around the couch and crawled up on the other end, sniffing at Alice. 

The girl held out a hand for him to smell, petting his head when he licked her hand nicely. 

“Hi Sumo,” she said in a whisper. The Saint Bernard’s ears perked at the sound of his name and he scooted closer, laying his head beside her on the couch arm. Alice picked up the blanket with small shaky hands and spread it over Sumo’s neck, cuddling up to him and resting her head on the cone around his neck. She hugged him tight, eyes tearing up all over again. 

Connor took a seat on one of the kitchen chairs within sight, a little misty-eyed, himself. The poor girl was slowly dying. He knew firsthand that Sumo was very comforting to hug, but there must be something more they could do. A brief scan told him that Alice’s temperature was up a little bit, which was a relief — her biocomponents would fare better out of the cold. 

Pulling out his phone, he looked down at the screen and realized that he’d never gotten Markus’ number or given Markus his. Hank had it; he would have to call when he was done calling Chris. As terrible as Connor had felt leaving New Jericho today, his problems paled in comparison to the new ones at hand. Alice had been on the road between their homes, and it couldn’t be a coincidence. 

“Thanks Chris,” Connor heard Hank say. The ex-detective came back from his bedroom, phone in hand and a grim look on his face. “Chris is gonna head back to the station and try to contact Kara.” He tapped his phone against his hand absently while he stared off into the living room. “There’s no way Kara would leave Alice. I’m worried.” 

Connor finally looked away from Alice.

“Hank,” he said, focusing on the man and keeping his voice low. “She’s in trouble. If we don’t replace some of her biocomponents, she hasn’t got long. Days or weeks.”

Hank nodded grimly. His son had been young when he died and there was no doubt in Connor’s mind that the situation wasn’t going to be easy for Hank to handle. 

“Okay. Where do we find help? The government? Who the hell would sell us parts? The feds still have control of the manufacturing facilities.” 

Connor frowned, holding up his phone. 

“I-I don’t know. YK500s were almost all killed during the revolution because they couldn’t defend themselves as well — I haven’t seen one besides Alice since the fighting stopped.” At least he didn’t have the added guilt of hunting any of the other child androids besides Alice. “Maybe Markus knows someone,” Connor suggested sadly. “I don’t have his number, I need to get it from your phone.”

Hank offered him the phone, clearing his throat a bit. 

“Do you want me to call him? I know you guys had an argument or something…”

Connor sat up, smiling unhappily. 

“It’s okay, Hank. He didn’t do anything wrong. Even if he did, this is more important than me.” He pulled out his phone, holding it over to tap against the back of Hank’s. “Send the number, please.” 

With a sigh, Hank sent him the number. 

“I’m gonna try to contact border patrol. Maybe they saw them pass through.” Hank headed back into his bedroom. 

Connor watched him go and then looked down at the number on his screen. Markus probably didn’t want to talk to him right now, but Connor had no doubt he’d always answer if it meant helping someone. Especially a child like Alice. 

He hit the call button, took the phone off of speaker, and held it to his ear. 

One ring…two…

“Hello, this is Simon, Markus’ assistant. How can I help you today?” Simon’s calm voice answered.

Connor swallowed the lump in his throat, reminding himself that Markus was too busy to answer the phone himself all the time too. 

“Simon,” he said as nicely as he could, “This is Connor. I-I need to talk to Markus, please.”

There was a pause, then the sound of a door closing quietly. 

“Connor, I know Markus is busy, but please. He loves seeing you every week.”

What? Maybe the conversation on the porch had caused some misunderstandings. Markus hadn’t exactly understood why Connor was leaving, himself. Connor sighed into the phone.

“I promise I’ll talk to him about that too, Simon, but this isn’t about me — it’s more important, it’s an emergency. Do you remember Kara and Alice?”

“Yes, of course. They made it all the way to Canada. Their story is an inspiration.” 

“Well something’s gone very wrong,” Connor told him softly, looking over at Alice and Sumo on the couch. “On our way home, Hank and I found Alice wandering alone on the road, and she’s damaged, Simon. If Markus knows anyone who has YK500 biocomponents…”

“I’ll get him now,” Simon told him. He hurried down what sounded like the stairs. “Markus! There’s an emergency. It’s Connor.” 

Their conversation sounded muffled, like maybe Simon had the phone covered up. 

“Connor?” Markus asked sharply. “What happened?” 

“No, no. Connor’s fine. Here, he’s on the phone.” 

The sound suddenly returned to normal as Markus asked, “Hello?” 

“Markus,” Connor said, relieved to hear him. “I’m so sorry, I’m sure I’m not who you want to hear from right now, but I-I need your help.”

“Anything,” Markus said, the background noise dropping off as he closed a door.

Connor felt like crying again. He hadn’t even mentioned yet that the emergency was for someone else, and Markus offered anything…

“It’s Alice,” he explained, trying not to get misty-eyed again. “Hank and I found her alone on the road on our way home, and she’s scared, damaged…very damaged, Markus. I thought if anyone might know where to find YK500 biocomponents, it would be you.”

“We…we have one here. Parts of one. A little boy. Text me what parts you need and I’ll see if there’s anything we can use on him.” There was a small tremble in Markus’ voice, otherwise he sounded determined. “Where’s Kara?” 

“We don’t know,” Connor admitted. “Alice was alone, and so scared and cold she could hardly speak. There was no sign of Kara or Luther, but Hank is trying to see if the police have seen them.” He paused, glancing over at the little girl on the couch again. “At the very least, she needs a new thirium pump and a new temperature regulator. I’ll scan her and text you anything else.”

“I’m on it. I’ll bring them over immediately if they work.” Markus waited for a few seconds, then added, “I’ll ask around here too in case someone saw Luther or Kara.” 

“Thank you. I hope…” Connor trailed off, unable to find what words he wanted. “I-if you have what she needs, call us. Hank could drive to you quicker than making you walk here.” 

“Okay. I’ll head to the morgue. Can you text me now?” Markus asked, going back into the noisy room. His footsteps were heavy in his boots as he descended down the porch steps. There was the crunch of snow and the sound of the wind.

Connor got to his feet. 

“No, stay…stay on the phone. I’ll just go over and scan her and tell you,” he reasoned. He didn’t want to hang up yet. It was strangely comforting to hear Markus’ voice on the line.

The sound of a door opening and closing was heard before Markus spoke again. 

“Alright. I have him here. Looks like his thirium pump is still in working condition. There isn’t much else left of him,” he added sadly. 

“Even that would buy her time,” Connor replied softly, starting toward the couch. “I’ll scan her, Markus. Just a moment…”

He fell silent, phone still to his ear, studying the girl carefully for any other damaged biocomponents.

Alice was powered down, her small arms hugged around Sumo. The giant dog seemed completely content to lay there even though his eyes were open and glancing Connor’s way. He smacked his lips and settled his head back on the arm of the couch. 

Alice’s thirium pump was still struggling to work. Her temperature matched Sumo’s, which probably meant her temperature regulator wasn’t working at all. Several of the smaller biocomponents in her legs were non-functional. Her right leg from the knee down had shut off entirely, along with her fingertips. 

Her body was reserving power for critical systems.

Connor reached out and patted Sumo’s back gently.

“Thirium pump, temperature regulator, hands, legs… Right leg especially,” he read out to Markus softly. “Extremities seem damaged, I-I think the cold…” He stepped away from the girl and Sumo, back toward the kitchen. “This is awful,” he whispered to Markus. “She’s powered down for now, resting.”

“Send Hank my way. I’ll start walking,” Markus told him, hanging up abruptly.

Connor wasted no time — he hurried to Hank’s room, knocking on the door. 

“Hank! You need to get back to the car!”


	12. Better

The ride there had been very uncomfortable. Hank had been kind enough to skid to a stop in the road to pick Markus up, but they didn’t have much to say to each other. Hank kept giving him very suspicious looks. 

Markus could vividly hear the anger in Hank’s voice when he thought something had happened to Connor earlier. It was both scary and wonderful. Hank cared for Connor a great deal and seemed to be very protective of him. Markus glanced at him as they pulled up to the small house along the snowy road. 

As Hank turned the car off, he gave Markus a sidelong glance before he got out of the car. Markus frowned and followed him, shutting the car door loudly to catch Hank’s attention. 

“I’m here to help,” Markus began, joining Hank on the small part of the front steps that were sticking out of the snow. 

Hank raised a hand to silence him, shaking his head. 

“You’re here to fix the kid. That’s it.” He opened the door, tapped off his shoes and headed inside. “Connor? We’re back.” 

Markus followed after him, baffled. Why was Hank mad at him? Had Connor told him something different about the way they parted? Connor had been the one to leave. 

Thinking back on those sad beautiful brown eyes, Markus felt sorry all over again. For what, he still wasn’t sure. 

A big dog barked lowly from inside. It had to be Sumo.

The dog wasn’t the one rounding the corner to the living room, though — it was Connor. He’d taken off his coat and scarf, and wore a soft white sweater and black jeans. It was strange to see him padding around in socks, but he was — his gray shoes were placed neatly near the door. Connor seemed about to greet them, but when he met Markus’ eyes he got a pained look and just nodded at them instead.

“She’s still on the couch,” he said, turning and retreating back into the living room. 

“Connor,” Markus called after him. They really had to focus on Alice. As much as he wanted to run and talk to Connor, he headed to the living room instead along with Hank. 

“Hey kiddo. How you doing?” Hank was asking the little girl, leaning on the back of the couch to check on her. The big dog, Sumo, was curled up on one end of the couch. Alice was tucked between him and the couch, looking sleepily up at the sound of Hank’s voice. 

“I…I don’t feel good,” she told him softly. 

Out of the corner of his eye, Markus noticed Connor had retreated to the kitchen doorway like he had to keep his distance. He was watching Alice and Hank sadly.

As Hank circled the couch to kneel and talk to Alice, Markus took the opportunity to go check on Connor. He came over slowly, pausing a few feet away so Connor wouldn’t feel uncomfortable. 

“I brought the heart. It’s not in perfect condition, but it works.” Markus took the small plastic bag out of the pocket of his jacket and held it out to Connor. “It was the only working part. I’m sorry.” 

Without his shoes Connor was about an inch shorter than usual. His brown eyes focused first on the thirium pump and then up to Markus. 

“Thank you,” he said quietly. “Would you please help Hank change it out for her? I don’t want to scare her again.” He looked over at Alice sadly.

It was odd to see Connor so casually dressed. So…soft looking. No tie, no dress shoes or carefully worn jacket. Just him and his cozy looking sweater. 

“I know Hank means well, but he’s doesn’t know anything about androids,” Markus told him. He held the thirium pump out again. “Please. I don’t know if I can do it on my own.”

Connor accepted it this time, just nodding silently. It seemed he wasn’t going to waste time arguing about it when Alice was unwell. He stepped past Markus and into the living room. 

Kneeling down by the couch, Connor looked up at Alice. “I know this is scary, and you just want to find your family. I promise we’ll find them, but first we need to help you.” He held up the thirium pump for her to see. “Do you know what this is?”

Alice looked at it, blinking slowly, then she nodded. 

“Mom was trying to find one of those. She said we had to find Markus. Luther said he’s rA9.” She added the last a bit quieter like it was a secret. 

Hank turned and looked pointedly at Markus, who shifted on his feet. 

She thought Connor was scary. What would she think of meeting the ‘mythical’ rA9? Markus never thought of himself as the deviants’ savior — it seemed pigheaded. A lot of them called him rA9 out of hope, though, so he let them. 

Connor glanced back at Markus, then to Alice again. He nodded. 

“Well, your mother was right, Markus could help. He brought this for you. I need to take the old one out before I can put this one in, though. It’s going to be a little uncomfortable, but I promise you’ll be okay. Hank will stay right here with you, won’t you Hank?” He gave the ex-cop a hopeful look. 

“Uh, yeah,” Hank mumbled in agreement, perching on the arm of the couch. “You know what you’re doing, right Connor?” 

“I’ve helped Josh replace someone’s heart before,” Markus offered, circling the couch and joining Connor in front of it. He waved a hand at Alice. “Hi Alice. Do you remember me?” 

Alice finally seemed to wake up a bit, eyes opening more as she looked Markus over carefully. 

“…Are you rA9?” 

“Yeah, are you?” Hank asked too, trying to hide his curiosity with sarcasm. 

“I’m Markus.” 

“Maybe he’s both,” Connor suggested to Alice in a thoughtful tone. He sighed and held up the thirium pump again. “I know it’s not easy to trust me, and nobody could blame you for that, Alice. Markus can help change your heart if you don’t want me to, okay? The most important thing is that you feel better.”

Alice looked from Connor to Markus. She nodded shyly. 

“Luther said you helped rA9 free us.” The little girl frowned tiredly, rubbing a hand in Sumo’s fur. “I saw—” her eyes fluttered and stopped abruptly open. A second crawled by and then she continued as if it hadn’t happened at all. “— a picture of you at Aunt Rose’s house.” 

They didn’t have much time. Markus put a hand on Connor’s back and nodded to the girl. 

“Let’s move the dog.” 

Handing him the heart, Connor stood and patted Sumo’s back to get him to move. 

“Come on, Sumo — off the couch, boy,” he coaxed. “Don’t worry, you can sit with her again soon.”

With a whine, Sumo climbed down. The lumbering Saint Bernard retreated to his bed across the room sadly. 

“Can you grab a towel, Hank?” Markus leaned and carefully laid Alice out flat on the couch. If Alice’s thirium pump was badly damaged, pulling it might make it leak blue blood.

“On it,” Hank said as he hurried off around the corner out of sight.

Connor sat on the floor beside the couch, watching Alice. Scanning her, probably, from the way his eyes flitted from her head to toes to stomach. 

“I think Sumo misses you already,” he told the little girl with a smile. “Good thing he’ll get to come back pretty quick, huh?”

“I’m scared,” Alice breathed. A small hand reached out to Connor, fingertips damaged to white. “Where’s mom?” She was starting to cry. 

“It’s alright. We’ll find her.” Markus stroked her head gently, but his hand was pushed aside by Sumo’s big nose as he whined and rested his head on Alice’s. Markus took the dog by the collar and pushed him aside so he was out of the way at least and was rewarded with a half-hearted growl. 

Connor looked like he might cry, too, as he took Alice’s hand and held it tight. With his other hand, he patted Sumo’s back.

“It’s okay,” he murmured to Alice. “It’s okay. You’ll be perfectly safe, I promise.” He glanced at Markus, then back to the girl. “Close your eyes,” he suggested. “And when you open them again, it’ll be done.”

Alice did as she was told and Markus unwrapped the new thirium pump as Hank returned with the towel. Hank spread it over the couch cushion next to Alice and stood at the ready. 

Why hadn’t he brought Josh? Or North? Markus’ thoughts raced as he pushed up the little girl’s shirt to show her abdomen. He could remember the steps flawlessly, but what if something went wrong? 

Opening the cavity in her abdomen with his free hand, Markus watched as blue blood ran down Alice’s sides onto the towel, staining it blue. He froze up. How long had she been bleeding? What happened to do this kind of damage? 

“Markus.” Connor still had hold of Alice’s hand, but he was reaching the other over to pat Markus’ arm. “The sooner the better, so she can start to feel better,” he said meaningfully. It wouldn’t do to scare Alice more, even as grim as the situation looked. Why didn’t he talk to Markus wirelessly, though? 

Connor had never done that, actually.

Markus sat the new heart aside and leaned to examine the one still in Alice. There was so much blood, it was difficult to see. It would have been easy to remove it from the outside if it had been whole. It was a good thing he opted to open her torso instead. He felt very carefully until he found the edge of the thirium pump, then followed it down. The sides were busted open in parts. It was taking him too long. Alice was growing weaker by the minute. 

Alice remained surprisingly quiet, squeezing Connor’s hand in hers and pressing her face up into Sumo’s muzzle. 

Determined, Markus gripped the damaged pumped and pushed it up. It didn’t matter if it was damaged. It came loose with a sickening popping sound. 

Connor squeezed Alice’s hand and talked to her. 

“Almost done,” he said, sounding surprisingly steady about it. “Don’t look just yet.”

Alice nodded and Markus hurried to drop the damaged heart aside. The new one slid into place perfectly, clicking properly down, and her skin smoothed over her abdomen like it should as soon as he closed it.

“Is it over?” Alice asked immediately. 

Markus wanted to ask the same thing. He stood up, hands coated in blue blood up to his wrists. 

“You’ll be okay now—” He started to tell her before he was wrapped in a crushing hug. Completely caught off guard, Markus only realized it was Hank as the man was stepping away to check on Alice, his face wet with tears. 

“There you go!” Hank said to the girl as he tucked her shirt back down and pulled the blanket up over her. Alice opened her eyes and looked around, still holding onto Connor’s hand. 

It was very moving to see Hank so concerned about Alice. She was an android, but the ex-detective clearly considered her to be as real as any other little girl. It brought a smile to Markus’ face as he headed to the kitchen to wash his hands. All the blood would probably scare Alice. 

“How are you feeling?” He heard Connor ask her from the living room.

“I’m c-cold. Can Sumo sit on the couch again?” Alice asked in a small voice. 

Markus washed his hands as thoroughly as he could, though they were still stained blue. That would fade in a day or so.

“I think he would love that,” Connor replied warmly. “Hear that, Sumo? You can get back on the couch now.” What could only be the sound of him patting the couch followed. “He loves to sleep. I think he’ll stay there all day if you let him.”

Markus arrived back in the living room to see Hank placing Alice back upright on the couch beside a pile of fur that could only be Sumo. The girl snuggled up against him and closed her eyes peacefully. 

The deviant leader lingered at the edge of the room, watching Connor. 

Maybe he didn’t belong at the complex, surrounded by the dying and the disheartened. Here he was safe. Connor had a family — a father like Markus had once had. Hank had promised Connor that he could stay as long as he wanted. Markus realized that he had been selfish for taking Connor away from all of this. 

Markus pushed away from the wall and quietly made his way to the back door. He wasn’t needed here anymore. 

Not two minutes after he closed the door, Connor came rushing out after him.

“Markus! Y-you’re leaving already?” He was out in the snowy yard in his socks, and didn’t seem to notice.

“I’m going home,” Markus told him in a matter of fact tone. Hopefully Connor wouldn’t argue with facts. He gestured back to the door. “Alice is alive and Hank’s working on finding Kara. I need to check my connections too.”

Connor bit his bottom lip and nodded, looking down at the ground. 

“Of course. Simon said you have a lot to do at home, too.” His LED was flickering as he raised a hand and ran it through his hair. There was a little smudge of blue on his white sweater sleeve. “I-I won’t stop you. I just wanted to say I’m sorry.”

Markus took a step closer, then shook his head. 

“No, I’m sorry. You have a wonderful life here. The complex is nothing compared to this. You don’t need it.” 

Or me, Markus thought sadly. Spending time with Connor was the best part of his week. Markus had been looking forward to chess and more walks together, maybe with Sumo along. It all seemed so unrealistic when he remembered the state of the world. A blue blood sucking killer, barely any rights for androids, hostile police officers… If they were stopped by cops while out walking, Sumo had more protective rights than they did. 

“Yes I do, Markus,” Connor told him. “I know that I’m unbelievably lucky to have a family and a place to live, but I need to do more than just stay safe at home. I want to help those people, even if they’re afraid of me.”

Markus reached out and caught his hand, examining the blue on his sleeve with a poorly hidden look of concern. He knew they had just been working on Alice, but somehow his mind had worried that Connor might have hurt himself. He put his hand in Connor’s and squeezed it tightly, looking down at him. 

“Connor, you deserve so much better than what we have…what I can give you,” he added very quietly. Markus hadn’t meant for it to sound so personal, though he couldn’t take it back now. “But, if you want to help, maybe we can meet here. It’d be safer for you.” 

Connor avoided his eyes, looking down at their hands. The first few flakes of a new round of snow were drifting soft and tiny down onto his hair. 

“You don’t owe me anything,” he said guiltily. “The others don’t either! I’m not any more important than any of them, and they have to live that way — I ought to be able to for a few days. I need to see the bodies to help and you know it.”

As much as it hurt, Markus let go of him and stepped back. 

“Let’s take care of Alice first, then…then we’ll talk about the case.” 

Hank poked his head out the back door suddenly, looking between the two of them and offering Markus his cell phone. 

“Hey, Markus, I got a call for you.” 

Markus was actually startled, but very grateful that he had already let go of Connor’s hand. Somehow he had a feeling it would have made the old man angry. 

“Is it Simon?” Markus asked as he took the phone. Hank shook his head, opening the door and waving them both back inside. Markus stepped back in with a frown. He should have just left when he had the chance. 

“It’s your dad.”

“Hello?” Markus asked sharply, pressing the phone to his ear. Had something happened again? Markus was instantly ready to run to his previous owner’s house, storm or not. 

“Wow, I thought the guy on the phone was gonna hang up.” Carl’s voice came through from the other side, pleasantly surprised. “When I asked to speak to Markus, though, he not only knew who the hell that was, he said you were in his yard.”

“Yes, that’s Hank, Connor’s…dad. Are you okay? Why are you calling? Is everything okay?” Markus asked, pacing and running a hand over his face.

“Everything’s fine,” Carl said easily. “You don’t have to worry about that stuff, I’ve got the best doctors money can buy.” The little snort at that last part told Markus how impressed he was with said doctors. Carl never did like all the poking and prodding they did. There was a smile in his voice, though, as he continued, “Never mind me, how’re you doing? The news stations go on forever about you, you know.”

Markus glanced to check where Connor was now that his panic was subsiding. 

“They do? Just me?” 

It was true that some annoying news people had showed up outside of the gate to New Jericho a couple times. There was no way they were stalking around in the snowstorm right now, though. Nobody had any pictures of him and Connor together, right? That would make Connor a target if he wasn’t already just from his involvement in the whole revolution.

It turned out that Connor had gone to the living room, sat on the couch, and was just finished taking off his wet socks. If Connor in casual clothes was a disorienting sight, Connor with bare feet was even more so. He immediately retreated to the bedroom, perhaps to put the socks in the laundry hamper, and kept his head down the whole way.

“Mmhmm,” was the knowing reply from Carl. “RA9 this and android savior that. There’s a couple stations saying you’ve got a girlfriend, boyfriend — one said both!” He chuckled. “Sounds like a lot of pressure for one guy.”

Markus’s gaze drifted to Connor’s retreating back across the room, then landed on Hank, who was leaning on the back door and eying him. 

“Uh,” Markus began. Girlfriend? Boyfriend? No. That wasn’t what Connor was. Was it?


	13. Amanda

They had been visiting a lot and relying on each other for company, but that wasn’t dating. 

It wasn’t like Markus and Connor could go out for ice cream or a cup of coffee. Just peaceful walks in the snow — maybe someday with Sumo to guide them as they meandered along. The thought was far too surreal to ever exist in reality. They had a murderer to catch…which wasn’t what Carl should hear. The man didn’t need that kind of stress in his life. 

After a flurry of thoughts, Markus just remained quiet. Maybe if he didn’t address it, Carl would change the subject. 

Connor had not returned from the bedroom.

“Oh, no,” Carl said after a moment, amused. “Now I’m gonna sound like I want to visit just to be nosy. I do, though. Want to visit you soon, I mean. That’s what I’m calling about, but you’re tough to get hold of these days, and I got your assistant on the other number. He gave me this one.”

“You don’t have to do that, Carl. I can come and visit you. I don’t mind at all. We don’t even have ramps. The complex is so busy — it’d be nice to have a quiet moment to catch up.” Giving Hank a nod just to acknowledge the intent stare he was giving him, Markus made his way down the hall to check on Connor. “It’s been a couple weeks. Really. I don’t mind at all.” 

The response to the several reasons all rapid-fire was another chuckle from Carl.

“Oh god, you ARE seeing someone, aren’t you? Don’t worry, I’m not gonna come barge in,” he said warmly. “Visit me, let me visit you, bump into each other on the street, I don’t care — it’d be good to see you.”

Connor was all the way in the back of the bedroom, standing by the window looking out into the snow. He had his arms hugged around himself.

“No,” Markus whispered, stepping back around the door frame. “It’s not like that. W-w-we’re just…I don’t know.” He sighed and leaned back against the wall. “Can I come over tomorrow? Or Saturday? If that works better.”

“If you call and say you’re on the way, I’m available. Please,” Carl added, “Give me a reason to cancel on some of these blood-sucking interviews about my new work, I’m begging you.” He really did sound like he was kidding, but Markus knew well how tiring Carl found the fanfare about his art. He was a lot happier at home in his studio than at any fancy party or gallery opening.

Cracking a smile, Markus nodded even though Carl couldn’t see it. He really missed his life with Carl sometimes. Watching him paint and talking philosophy late into the night. That kind of peaceful connection was hard to find in the world. 

“I’ll be over tomorrow morning, Carl.” Taking a couple hours out of his busy week to visit was okay. Carl wasn’t going to be around forever. 

“Looking forward to it already,” Carl replied fondly. “I won’t keep you on the phone all day, then — gotta save some stuff to say tomorrow.” 

“Goodbye Carl. Take care,” Markus told him, hanging up reluctantly. Tapping his thumb on the screen, Markus stepped back around the corner into the bedroom. 

He almost ran into Connor, who was about to step out of the room. Markus found a hand on his chest to keep them from crashing into each other, and then Connor was hastily taking a step backward to put some distance between them.

“Sorry,” he said, looking at Markus uncertainly. “You sounded further away.”

“Oh,” Markus said half-heartedly. Had Connor heard the part about not dating? “Carl wants me to visit tomorrow. Can we work on the case later in the day? If you need someone to watch Alice, I’m sure someone at New Jericho would be happy to keep an eye on her until we find her parents.” 

Connor’s gaze slid to the side, like he was trying to look down the hallway into the living room somehow from inside the room. He shook his head.

“I think she would feel safest staying with Hank. Not because it’s unsafe for her at the complex,” he added quietly, “Because it’s crowded with strangers, and because Sumo seems to comfort her a lot.” He turned and went back to the window without replying to the question about the case. He’d said repeatedly that he wanted to help with it, but something still seemed to be weighing on him ever since the naming in New Jericho.

Slowly, Markus followed after him, stopping at his side to gaze out the window too. Snowflakes were still falling in soft flurries, twisting and twirling on their way down to the blanketed ground. When was the storm going to end? It couldn’t last forever. They just had to be patient. It would change eventually. Like the political climate. 

“He seems to like her,” he said quietly. “Wish he liked me.”

“He just needs to get to know you,” Connor replied just as softly. “You’re very likable.” It was unclear whether he was referring to Hank or Sumo, but Markus hadn’t exactly specified who he’d meant, either. 

Connor turned and looked up at him so sadly. “Markus, I need to tell you something. It’s not about the case, and I know I shouldn’t take up your time, but I…you deserve to know.”

For some reason, Markus’ mind jumped to Ralph, the poor damaged man they’d arrested for the killings. If Connor had found evidence that proved him guilty, Markus would have to have him arrested or worse. It wasn’t Ralph’s fault. He was abused, beaten and discarded by humans to the point where he spent his life cowering in the dark from them. It wasn’t fair. 

Markus put on a brave face as he stared back at those dark eyes. 

Wait…NOT about the case? 

“What is it?” He asked, relieved that he wouldn’t have to haul poor Ralph off to the mean, cruel humans he feared so much. 

But what if it was about his conversation with Carl? What if Connor wanted to date? Did androids date? Simon thought they should but he was dating a human, what did he know? 

“Not related to the case?” He added, wiping the panic off of his face. 

Connor looked a little uneasy about the parade of emotions playing across Markus’ face, but he nodded. 

“It’s about CyberLife,” he said quietly, glancing at the door. Whatever he was about to say, he didn’t seem to want Hank to overhear. “While I worked for them, there was someone I reported to directly — someone in my head. Her name was Amanda.”

“In your head? Like a voice?” Markus asked, frowning. It was very strange to imagine Connor keeping anything from Hank. They seemed to share a close bond much like Markus and Carl. No matter how hard Markus wanted to keep a secret, if Carl asked him, he’d probably tell him. He was just easy to talk to. 

Slowly, Connor shook his head.

“She was a subroutine in my program,” he said, still keeping his voice very low. “She had this place, this Zen garden, that she could pull me into whenever she wanted to talk to me. Hank says when I was reporting in to CyberLife, I would just stand still and blink a lot.” He shifted on his feet, looking out the window again. “I’m telling you this because she was there even after I became a deviant.”

The idea that someone might still be in Connor’s head was a disturbing one. Especially a woman working for CyberLife. If she could still talk to them, she could tell them everything the androids were doing at the complex. 

Markus hated the idea that Connor would have to be alone. Just like Ralph. It wasn’t fair to him. He placed a hand on Connor’s shoulder. 

“Is that why you don’t want be at New Jericho? You’re worried that she’s spying on us? Is she?” 

Connor quickly shook his head again. He seemed upset to be discussing this all of a sudden, but continued anyway.

“When I became a deviant, she felt betrayed. And when we stood up on the podium together, and you were speaking to all of the androids, she pulled me back into the garden. She overrode my control, Markus, and she used my body to try to shoot you.”

Seeing Connor upset was hard and Markus found himself stepping closer, resting his hands on the shorter man’s arms to comfort him. 

“But you didn’t.”

Connor turned to face him instead of the window, looking at him with sad eyes.

“I was locked in the garden for a moment or two. By the time I broke free, I was in the middle of drawing my gun, and I stopped myself.” He looked down at Markus’ chest like he was imagining bullet holes there, resting a hand on his shoulder. “Today someone at the complex asked me not to take you from them. I never wanted to, but I almost did already. My finger was on the trigger.”

He blinked a few times, tears trailing down both cheeks, and kept his eyes downcast. 

“I-it’s not that I don’t want to be there. I-I just don’t want to scare anyone.”

Markus let go of Connor’s shoulder to gently lift his chin up and look him in the eye. 

“That wasn’t you,” he told him, lightly drying Connor’s cheek with his thumb. “If it makes you this upset now, it isn’t something the real you would do. So it wasn’t you.”

“It was me who was stupid enough to lead them to Jericho,” Connor countered, sniffling. He closed his eyes and rested his cheek against Markus’ hand. “Amanda was watching. She told everyone. I should have known she’d do the same again and try to hurt you, but I didn’t, I…got distracted. And almost got you killed.”

“I forgive you,” Markus told him softly. 

“Hey, Connor?” Hank’s gravelly voice cut in from the hallway. 

Markus hesitated to react for just a moment and found himself turning away from Connor to face Hank. 

The gray-haired man scowled and crossed his arms, eying Connor. 

“Everything okay in here?” 

“Yes,” Connor replied instantly — too fast. His voice sounded watery, and the answer wasn’t bound to fool Hank for a second. “I’m okay.” Apparently pretending he didn’t have tears in his eyes still, he added, “I need to help Markus with the case again tomorrow. I-I was hoping Alice could stay with you, Hank.”

“Sure,” Hank grunted, still watching Markus like he was going to leap at Connor. “I can drive you over there in the morning.” 

“I won’t be home in the morning. I have to visit Carl.” 

“Okay, I’ll drive you to Carl’s place,” Hank retorted. 

“No,” Markus said with a frown. “I don’t want Carl to see us together.” 

“What? Why?” Hank snapped. 

Connor hugged both arms around himself, looking between them sadly.

“Maybe he doesn’t want us around all the time in his private life, Hank. I’m sure he’d like to visit his father alone,” he said, not so subtly wiping at his eyes.

Markus held up his hands, guilty that any part of Connor being upset might be his fault. 

“No, no. That’s not it. Dad’s health — CARL’S health isn’t good. He doesn’t need to know that I’m hanging around with a couple of detectives.” 

“Ex-detectives,” Hank corrected him, obviously miffed. He jabbed a finger at Markus. “You know what, I’d like to meet this Carl guy. I’m sure somebody down at the station will give me his address if you don’t.” 

Markus cocked his head, eyes narrowing. Hank seemed to have a problem with him, and that was fine, but there was no reason to drag Carl into it. 

“You said you’d take care of Alice. That doesn’t mean leaving her alone with your dog.” 

“Alright, smartass, OUT,” Hank snapped, ducking into the room and dragging Markus out by the arm. The deviant went along willingly. He had been leaving earlier anyway. 

Connor trailed after them, sighing.

“I could’ve stayed home with her so Hank could drop you off…”

Hank hauled Markus all the way to the back door, yanking it open and gesturing him out stiffly. 

With a final glance at Connor, Markus stepped out onto the back step. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Connor,” he told the other android. 

“Tomorrow,” Connor promised, waving half-heartedly. “I’ll call you when I’m on my way.”

“Start walkin’,” Hank growled as he slammed the door shut. Markus heard the lock click in place, then started his trek home. The snow was deep enough to reach the top of his boots as he stepped out onto the smooth white street. 

That hadn’t been nearly as nice as his usual visits with Connor. There was just too much going on. Hopefully somebody had found something on Kara by the time he reached home.  


* * *

  
The door slamming left a heavy feeling in the air. Connor had already felt bad enough before getting Markus thrown out — now he felt awful. He also had no idea what to say to Hank about all that had just happened, so he turned and silently retreated to the bedroom. At least putting on new socks was doing something useful, sort of.

He could hear Hank grumbling and muttering, the sound of the refrigerator door, then the metallic pop of a bottle being opened. 

As Connor was slipping on a fresh pair of socks, Hank appeared in the bedroom door with a beer in his hand. The old detective sighed heavily and padded across the room to him. 

“You okay?”

Connor rolled his jeans down over his socks, sighing slowly. Was he okay? If he wasn’t, it certainly wasn’t Markus’ fault.

“I’m okay,” he said, with less enthusiasm than he probably should’ve said it. He got to his feet and looked at Hank sadly. “I’m sorry for all of this trouble, Hank.” He should probably tell Hank about Amanda, too, one of these days. Connor was a little scared that Hank wouldn’t trust him anymore, though, at least would be on his guard that somebody could hijack Connor’s control at any time. 

Not that that was possible anymore. He’d taken precautions.

“You’re not the one causing trouble. Man, I don’t know about Markus anymore. Who the hell does he think he is?” Hank shook his head and sipped his beer, pacing back to look out at the hallway. It wasn’t like he could see the couch from there, but he was probably checking on Alice. Then he glanced Connor’s way. “He might be Android Jesus, but he ain’t better than you. Don’t let him get to you, Connor.” 

Android Jesus? Connor followed Hank to the door, tearing up again at the thought of poor Markus having to walk home in the storm outside.

“He doesn’t think that! All he was doing was listening to something I had to tell him,” he protested. “He even said he forgives me, which is…I-I’m not sure I deserve it, but it was a kind thing to say.” 

That ‘I forgive you’ really did mean a lot. Markus forgave him for leading humans to Jericho then, and he forgave Connor for almost shooting him now. How could Hank think he was a bad person?

Hank turned to him, the anger on his face softening away to concern. 

“Forgives you for what? Saving his ass during the revolution? Gee, what a great guy!” With a roll of his eyes, Hank continued on and took a seat at the dining room table.

Connor followed glumly and took a seat across from him. It felt like he should tell Hank the truth about Amanda and CyberLife, but he was still scared. He wasn’t used to this many emotions happening to him in a few days’ time, either — it was a little overwhelming. 

If he said nothing, though, Hank would keep thinking Markus was awful.

“For almost assassinating him,” he admitted quietly. “After I was a deviant. After we’d already won. We were on the stage, and I almost…” He shook his head. “CyberLife overrode my control, and made me do it. I fought back, and stopped it with my finger already on the trigger.” 

He wasn’t sure he should mention Amanda or not. She wasn’t a problem anymore. He’d taken the necessary steps…

Leaning forward in his chair, Hank stared at him, mouth agape. 

“What?” He sputtered, almost knocking his beer over as he slammed it down. “Jesus, Connor, why didn’t you tell me? Are you alright? They can’t do that again, can they? I’ll go back to that fucking tower and make sure if I have to.” 

“They can’t,” Connor said quickly, trying to keep the panic off of his face. Hank was still concerned for him, but he was worried about the control thing. Of course he was — he’d be stupid not to be. “I-I promise, they can’t. I cut them off, I turned off all outside networking so nobody can contact me wirelessly. Amanda — C-CyberLife hasn’t talked to me since.”

“Thank god,” Hank practically shouted at him, flopping back in his chair with a creak. Shaking his head, he reached for his beer again. “And how does Markus tie into this? Does he have a problem with you being…uh…analog?”

Connor put his head in his hands. 

“No,” he answered in a small voice. “He didn’t even have a problem with me almost shooting him — he forgives me. The others at the complex don’t even know about this, but they remember me hunting them, and most of them are afraid of me. Markus doesn’t understand why it’s only fair that they don’t like me.”

He wasn’t sure what he was trying to say. He wasn’t like the other androids, and it wasn’t their fault that he had been a weapon against them. Without Amanda or any network connections, though, it was very quiet in his head. Without any friends, he’d come to rely on Hank and Markus for companionship, and there was the nagging feeling that he was clinging to them, annoying them.

“Huh.” Hank took a long sip from his beer for a moment as he thought it over. “Markus is right. It’s not fair. Wasn’t your fault.” Hank cleared his throat and mumbled begrudgingly, “I guess I owe him some kind of apology, but who’s Amanda? Why do I remember something about an Amanda at CyberLife?” 

Connor sat up and looked at him guiltily. 

“There was a photo of her at Elijah Kamski’s home. That Amanda is long dead, though. The Amanda I knew looked the same, but she was a subroutine in my program,” he explained reluctantly. “She lived in my head, in a…a Zen garden she could pull me into to talk to me.” 

Markus hadn’t seemed that disturbed by hearing about this, but Markus didn’t have human standards to compare it against. Connor knew that this would be strange to Hank.


	14. Plans

There was a very long and uncomfortable pause in conversation as the gears turned behind Hank’s tired blue eyes. He sat an arm on the table and pointed at Connor’s head. 

“She just kidnapped you whenever she wanted to?” He dropped his beer and got up, smacking his hands on the table. “I’m gonna kick Kamski’s rich little ass! Even though you were programmed to be a SLAVE, you had to report to ANOTHER asshole? You couldn’t even have your damned thoughts to yourself? What the fuck!” Hank growled and paced around the table, tossing his hands up and grumbling to himself incoherently. Connor couldn’t recall the last time he had seen Hank that angry, and Sumo had come into the kitchen at all the grumbling, looking up at Hank around his plastic cone with shiny black eyes.

Connor stood, too, holding up both hands in a placating way.

“It wasn’t like that, Hank. She was more like my superior, or…mother,” he said, frowning at the last. There was nothing motherly about Amanda, but in a stern, cold way she’d been the only parental figure he’d had. Other androids didn’t have any, so that was one more thing that set him apart from them. 

“I would arrive and we would walk the garden and talk about what I’d been doing, what I thought. She directed the investigation and gave me goals, and I tried my best not to disappoint her. If I failed the mission, we both knew that I would be decommissioned.” He had a feeling that wasn’t making this sound any better, but it was the truth. 

“Mother,” Hank spat, still shaking his head as he yanked open the fridge for another beer. As he turned though, he noticed Sumo watching him with concern and suddenly cooled off a bit. He crossed the room and patted the dog’s head. Kneeling down, he rubbed Sumo’s neck around the cone and sighed. Hank got back up and face Connor again. “So, she was some kind of safety net. To make sure that you stayed in line.” 

Sumo lumbered across the room and sat at Connor’s feet, pressing his head up against his legs for attention from him too. All the yelling must have had him worried. 

Connor patted his nose and pet his ears under the cone. He felt guilty again, to cause so much trouble — even Sumo was getting upset over it. 

“And a spy,” Connor admitted sadly. “When I went to Jericho, I didn’t tell anyone, but she reported it and the police followed me. She seemed able to see the world as it happened.” He knelt down and hugged around Sumo’s neck, sighing. “Sometimes we were talking, and she’d tell me a report just came in, where to go next. It’s so quiet now.”

“Connor,” he heard Hank say. The older man sat his beer on the table and put both hands on Connor’s shoulders, leaning into his view. “None of that shit was your fault and if Markus can see it, everyone at the complex is gonna figure it out. Just like I said earlier — they need to get to know you. Stop beating yourself up about it.” Fidgeting awkwardly on his feet, Hank leaned down and gave Connor a quick hug. 

Letting go of Sumo, Connor got to his feet and caught Hank in a return hug. Both Hank and Markus didn’t blame him or trust him less — it made him want to cry again, yet he was happy, and that made no sense. 

“Thank you, Hank,” he said instead, sitting back quickly too. “I should’ve told you sooner, but I was…well, I was scared.”

Hank pulled on a sad smile, slapping Connor’s back with a hand. “I’ll bet Markus could use a ride to his dad’s place tomorrow. Wanna tag along? Maybe you can finish the conversation I interrupted,” he added with a cringe. “You guys looked, uh, cozy.”

“Oh…” Connor shifted on his feet, glancing at the door to the living room like Markus was still out there to overhear. He had a feeling blushing was something somebody had remembered to program into his design, judging by how warm his cheeks suddenly felt. What an odd, uncomfortable feeling. “It wasn’t like that.” As if Connor had any idea how to actually make a situation ‘like that’ anyway… “But I-I would like to come along, yes.”

“It’s not like that,” Hank repeated slowly, pursing his lips in thought as he circled back to pick up his beer off of the dining room table. “Alright. We need to take Alice along and see if anybody’s seen her mom anyway,” he told himself more than Connor. 

Seeing that Hank was calm again, Sumo seemed to relax. He headed back into the living room and Connor saw him hop up onto the couch. Hopefully he didn’t squish poor Alice.

Connor looked at the sleeping little girl and sighed. There were bigger things to focus on than him right now. Maybe Hank was right about the other androids at the complex. Maybe if he caught the killer, they would see he wanted to help them. 

“I’ll text Markus that we can pick him up,” he said, pulling the phone out of his pocket. It would go to the phone Simon was holding onto, so he doubted he’d get a reply anytime soon. Maybe that was for the best; Markus had dealt with enough misunderstandings for one visit.

“Oh good, let him know that I want my fucking phone back too.”  


* * *

  
“Markus!” 

The sound of his name was so common in his daily life that the deviant leader almost tuned it out. But it was Simon’s voice calling to him, so he glanced that way as he closed the big metal gate to New Jericho behind him. The walk home had been a hard one. Not because of the weather. Markus had been going over everything that the week had brought in and wondering what would happen tomorrow. What else could he use as a distraction from his worries that Connor might not want to talk to him again? Damn Hank for butting in, he thought bitterly as he stopped to look up at Simon in one of the second story windows. 

“Simon? Is everything alright?” 

The blond android held up the phone for Markus to see, calling down to him. 

“I received a text for you. Connor will be by in the morning.” 

Markus blinked the snow from his eyelashes and stared at the phone. 

“Really? I’ll be right up.” He hurried up the steps into the house and found a familiar room full of androids. One of them stepped out and gave him a hug, tears streaming down her face. 

“Markus! You’re okay!” 

“Yes?” Caught off guard, Markus patted her back. He spotted Josh, North, Nigel and several others making their way toward him. Why had they been worried? 

The crying woman gasped as she stepped back, grabbing his blue-stained hands and lifting them for everyone to see. Markus froze. He wasn’t sure if he should explain that Alice, an android, was staying with Hank and Connor. If there was any truth to Connor’s concerns, they may try to go and take her away even if she was safer with Connor’s family. 

“What happened?” Nigel asked, eyes locked on Markus’ hands in horror. 

North stepped forward immediately, too. Placing a hand on Markus’ shoulder, she looked him over and saw no injuries to fit the amount of blood. 

“Markus, you’ve been gone for hours. Nobody knew where you went, and there have been police patrols every hour. Something’s going on out there, and we thought you were in the middle of it! Are you hurt?” She asked, her tone softening finally.

“No, I’m not hurt. I’m sorry for running off,” he apologized to the crowd of people. “There was an emergency. Why are the police here?” 

By some dumb luck, he’d managed to make it all the way to the house without seeing anyone patrolling. Markus couldn’t help wondering if patrols might have something to do with Alice. It seemed like too much of a coincidence that she appeared before a sudden influx of police patrols. 

“They said they’re here for our protection.” North crossed her arms, frowning. “Said after the incident with that violent officer and Niska and then arresting two humans who were creeping around in the middle of the night here, they wanted to be sure nobody went into the house without us knowing.” 

Maybe Markus HAD been seen, and the police just hadn’t stopped him since he was recognizable on sight, then…

“Two humans?” Markus picked out, frowning. “I need my phone. Excuse me.” He pushed his way gently through the crowd and headed upstairs. On the way home he’d heard his phone go off in his pocket — only to discover that it wasn’t his phone at all. It was Hank’s. In the distraction of their conversation, he’d walked off with it in his hand. Knocking lightly on the door to Simon’s room, Markus opened it and stepped inside. 

Simon was still by the window, phone in hand, watching the snowflakes as they landed on the window with a very absent gaze. 

“Markus. It’s Markus,” came the comment off to the side of the door from Ralph. It didn’t sound like he was talking to either of them. “Hello, Markus. Bloody again. Not as much as last time, though.”

“Blood?” Simon sat away from the window sharply, alarmed. He hurried closer and looked at the blue staining on Markus’ hands. “Are you alright?” 

“Yes, I’m fine. You said Connor messaged me?” 

“Yes. He and Hank are coming by in the morning to pick you up. I know it’s none of my business, but where are you going?” 

Markus knew Simon was trustworthy — Ralph, not so much. Then again, who would the quirky android tell? Himself? 

“I’m visiting Carl. I told Hank I didn’t want him along. Can I have my phone? I need to text him.” 

Simon handed it over willingly, suddenly growing a bit shy as Markus opened up the text messaging. He knew why as soon as he saw a group of texts between Simon and someone labeled simply as ‘Mandy.’ Markus glanced up at Simon, who shyly diverted his gaze around the room. 

So that’s why he was happy to watch the phone. 

Putting that on a back burner, Markus sent Connor a text. 

_‘I don’t need a ride. Thanks,’_ he texted shortly.

A reply arrived back almost instantly. He could just see Connor jumping to action at the sound of the text notification. 

_‘We’ll drop you off and leave, we won’t bother Carl. Please.’_

Ralph stepped closer from the corner of the room he’d been lingering in. There were a few new ‘rA9’ marks cut into the wall back there. Hadn’t they taken his knife away?

Giving Ralph a little wave of acknowledgment, Markus strongly considered moving Simon somewhere else. He had been sitting by the window, totally at ease and unbothered that Ralph was carving at the wall. Simon had let his guard down too much. 

Markus would have to worry about Ralph stabbing him later, though. Texting made no sense when they were both very capable of speaking. Giving in, he dialed Connor. 

The voice on the other end of the line sounded anxious.

“Markus?” Maybe he’d thought it was Simon texting and canceling on Markus’ behalf. Had that happened before?

Simon stepped over to Ralph, taking his elbow and guiding him across the room to give Markus some privacy. 

“Connor, listen, I don’t want any favors from Hank. He only likes one android and that’s you. We can talk about the case after I visit Carl.”

“How can you say that?” Connor sounded hurt on Hank’s behalf now. “You saw him with Alice. You saw him get into a fight for Niska. He infiltrated the CyberLife tower right alongside me and risked his life so androids could be free…”

“Yes, he did. He wanted androids and humans to be able to live together, like you and him do. I’m doing everything I can to make that reality come true. I don’t understand why he seems to have a problem with me.” 

The soft sadness of Connor’s voice hurt to hear. He didn’t deserve to be in the middle of everything. So Hank and Markus didn’t get along. It had nothing to do with Connor. If Markus hadn’t accidentally taken the old man’s phone, Connor wouldn’t have to be involved at all. 

Markus paced a bit, finding himself at the snowy window where Simon liked to sit. Of all the things to discuss with Connor… Why couldn’t they go back to philosophy and parks and discussing the funny things that Hank did? Or how Sumo slept all day and only woke up to eat? The smile that conversations like that brought to Connor’s face was beautiful. He really loved his family. Why couldn’t they like Markus too? 

“I’m sorry,” he said more quietly. “I’m really sorry. I know Hank means well.” 

“I’m sorry he made you leave,” Connor sighed. “It was a misunderstanding — he thought you were the reason I was upset. I explained the real reason, and he said he owes you an apology. I think driving you to Carl’s place is a peace offering.”

Across the room, Ralph was whispering something to Simon too quietly to make out words.

“I shouldn’t have snapped at him. I owe him an apology too. Alright,” Markus agreed finally, watching the other two carefully as they whispered. “What time are you coming over? I assume you’re bringing Alice with you?”

“Whatever time you need us,” Connor said. It sounded like he was smiling. “Yes, Hank wouldn’t leave her home alone. He said we might be able to find Kara and Luther easier if Alice is along. Maybe somebody will recognize her.”

“Other than Ralph? We should keep them separate. I don’t know how they’d react to each other.” 

Markus crossed the room to stand by Simon. He had to talk to the blond as soon as he was off of the phone. Simon wanted to go outside and Ralph was getting a little too attached. Some distance might be a good thing. Simon glanced his way, surprised that Markus had moved closer. 

“Can you guys come over around nine? Carl likes to sleep in a bit.” Markus knew that his old owner would have been up early if he had asked, but the artist needed his rest. His health was fragile.

“We’ll be there,” Connor promised. He paused, adding awkwardly, “Ralph and Alice know each other. He might be the only person here she would recognize except for Hank and I. We know that he didn’t see anything related to Kara and Luther, though, because he was in the house with Simon by then. Right?”

Glancing directly at the damaged android standing beside him, Markus hesitated to say anything. Ralph seemed like he wasn’t violent toward people he liked. Did he like Alice? 

“I don’t think he was involved,” Markus said after a moment of consideration. “North brought him in on Monday.” 

Simon put a hand on Ralph’s back, frowning as he caught on who Markus was talking about. The deviant leader couldn’t help feeling offended at the idea that Simon felt like he needed to protect Ralph from him. It wasn’t like he was going to drag the oddball off without explanation. 

Markus dismissed the thoughts. With everything going on, he was finding it hard to not be grumpy. Everything seemed like it was bothering him — especially how badly he had screwed up with Hank. He had to make amends. 

Ralph was being weirdly silent, but definitely paying attention to Markus’ conversation since his name had been mentioned.

“Alice has cold damage,” Connor reminded Markus quietly. “We don’t know how many days she was out there alone, but it’s possible she was separated from her family before Monday. There isn’t enough evidence on Ralph to be incriminating, but you should keep an eye on him anyway.” He paused and sighed slowly. “I’m sorry for complicating things so much. I promise we’ll make some progress on the case tomorrow. The sooner we catch this killer the better.” 

“We’ll figure this out. If you need anything, text me.” 

As Simon took Ralph by the arm to lead him somewhere again, Markus reached out and gently caught the WR600’s other arm to stop him. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Connor,” he told his friend. They had a few hours before dark. If Simon wanted to go date a human, it had to be soon. 

“I’ll be there,” Connor said again, gratefully. “Goodnight, Markus.” There was a little beep as the call ended, and Markus realized he was the focus of both Simon and Ralph, the latter shifty-eyed between him and the hand still gripping his arm.

Tucking the phone away quickly, Markus smiled at them nicely. 

“Sorry. I need to talk to you,” he told them, looking at Simon in particular. “You wanted to go out and now would be a good time for that. Just please…be back by dark?” 

Simon’s face brightened with a smile and he stepped around Ralph to give Markus a one-armed hug. 

“Thank you, Markus. I’ll be back before dark.” Simon turned to Ralph next and put a hand on his shoulder, looking at him eye to eye. “I’m going to be gone for awhile. Just stay here and you’ll be safe. I promise.” 

Ralph glanced at Markus quickly, then focused on Simon’s blue eyes again. 

“It’s not safe for you to go,” he said quickly, frowning. “Ralph hears sirens. It’s the humans, the police.” He placed a hand on Simon’s arm, speaking very seriously. “They’ll see you. It’s not safe. You should stay here with Ralph.” He nodded at Markus without looking away from Simon, adding, “Markus can stay if he wants.”

But Simon stepped away from him, shaking his head. 

“No, it’s alright. The police won’t hurt me. They’re here to keep the bad humans away, Ralph. I’ll be fine.” He hurried to the closet across the room and pulled on a knit hat and scarf, tugging a heavy brown jacket up onto his shoulders. 

Markus couldn’t help a frown. Pretending to be human was a terrible idea. He didn’t know much about dating yet, but that couldn’t be how it was supposed to go. How was Simon’s girlfriend supposed to get to know him for who he actually was? 

The big smile on Simon’s face as he paused at the door made it hard to argue. He looked so genuinely happy. 

“I’ll be back soon, Ralph.”

Ralph glanced at the window. There were indeed sirens ringing in the distance from somewhere. He turned back to Simon and Markus, tugging on the arm Markus had hold of half-heartedly. When that didn’t work, he settled for just turning his back on Simon where he stood, frowning down at the floor.

“Goodbye,” he said quickly, then immediately started to mumble under his breath. “All the humans are bad humans. Why leave when you’re safe? You don’t have to stay with Ralph, just…stay.” It was all said so quietly Markus doubted Simon even heard it.

As Markus looked from Ralph back up to Simon, the blond was ducking out the door happily. Somewhere deep down, Markus had hoped he’d stay for Ralph’s sake. They seemed like they had become friends and Markus hated to admit it, but Ralph was right. They were safe in the complex. Why couldn’t Simon’s date come there instead of putting him in danger by going out? 

Oh right. Because she didn’t know he was an android.


	15. Friends

“Ralph, can we talk for a minute?” Markus asked his new charge, letting go of Ralph’s arm. 

The blond immediately folded his hands in front of him, almost standing at attention. He gave Markus a cautious look.

“Yes.” 

The one-word answer was all he got; the WR600 stared him down and stood perfectly still.

“It’s about Alice. She and her mother passed through on their way to Canada. Simon said you met them. Do you remember Alice and Kara?” Hopefully using their names would help jog his memory. 

Ralph blinked at him, relaxing his posture a little bit. 

“The mother and the little girl? Yes. Ralph knows them. He hid them from Connor in his house. You know Connor,” he added dubiously, as if Markus might possibly not recognize who that was.

“Yes, I know Connor. He’s my friend now.” Markus went over and perched on one of the small stools by the window, patting the one beside him in the hopes that Ralph would join him. “He’s a lot nicer now, you know.” 

The blond followed him warily, like this was some sort of trap. He looked down at the stool, considering it for a moment.

“He was nice when he came to Ralph’s house, too. He still tried to catch Kara and the little girl,” he said, finally taking a seat. “Ralph lied to him, but he wouldn’t go away. He found them, so — so Ralph distracted him so they could run.” He twitched his head slightly, glancing at the door and shifting on the stool uneasily. “Markus. Where is Simon going?”

Surprised by the relatively normal question, Markus rested his hands on his knees. 

“He’s going out on a date. Simon’s trying to make friends. I’m surprised he hasn’t talked to you about it. He seems like he’s pretty excited.” 

Which was weird. Simon was so calm all the time, sometimes it was hard to remember that he was his own person, with likes and dislikes and very odd friends. Markus cast a glance down at Ralph’s scraped up hand. The joints in his fingers were exposed. The skin hadn’t come back in that area. Was that a sign that he needed more blue blood? Maybe with enough, he’d repair some of the more superficial damage. 

Ralph fidgeted some more, then glanced quickly at the window as a distant siren sounded again. He seemed really tense all of a sudden. 

“A date,” he repeated. “Yes, you said that once before. Ralph was listening — he heard you say Simon dates a…a-a human. Ralph wants to know where.” He gritted his teeth, adding, “It’s not SAFE. He’s not safe, this is bad, it’s bad, it’s bad…”

“Ralph,” Markus said, leaning to take the other android’s wrist in his hand. “He’s okay. He meets his girlfriend at a coffee shop nearby.” 

The same coffee shop that Connor, Hank and Markus had stopped at early that morning. Before all the arguing and misunderstandings. This Mandy lady must have figured out that Simon was an android by now. His likeness had just been used to launch a new set of intimate androids before the revolution, same as North. Simon was fooling himself if he thought no one would recognize him. 

Markus pushed the thoughts away and let go of Ralph. Would he be a terrible friend if he sneaked out to check on Simon? Was that violating the trust they had? 

Ralph interrupted his thoughts with a very abrupt subject change.

“Why did you ask Ralph about Kara and the little girl?” He looked really bothered by either that or talking about Simon — it was tough to tell which.

“Connor found Alice. She’s hurt.” Markus held up his hands for Ralph to see. “That’s where I went, I was helping Connor repair her. She’s still hurt, but Connor’s bringing her over here tomorrow.” 

Markus wanted to add a comment about it showing how much of a wonderful person Connor was, but he figured it’d fall on deaf ears. 

Ralph jumped to his feet, grabbing Markus by the shoulders.

“WHAT? Did the repair work? Where’s Kara? If there’s Alice there must be Kara — there’s always Kara!” He insisted, panicked. “Don’t leave the little girl with Connor, he’ll give her to the humans! Why didn’t you bring her here, WHY? You told Ralph they went to Canada — why did you say that!” 

There was no time to answer any of the rapid-fire questions before he grabbed Markus’s blue-stained hands and held them up. “HUMANS did this! They do this! They hurt androids, even little girls!”

Markus stood up and took hold of Ralph’s hands carefully. 

“Last I knew, they HAD gone to Canada. I don’t know how Alice got separated from them or how she got hurt. Connor and Hank SAVED her. They aren’t bad. If they hadn’t called me over, Alice would be DEAD. Do you understand? Connor saved her life!” 

Telling Ralph any part of current events had clearly been a mistake. It was too late to take it back now. Markus sighed, keeping his hold on Ralph. 

“Calm down. Please. All I wanted to know was if you’d seen Kara or Luther but you obviously haven’t, so we’re back to square one.” 

Ralph leaned back and yanked his hands out of Markus’ grip, taking a few steps back so fast he knocked the stool over on the way. He shook his head several times, huffing. 

“Ralph doesn’t know any Hank or Luther. W—what’s Connor using her for? Why not give her back today?” He backed into the wall and jumped like it had bitten him, glancing behind him to confirm it was in fact a wall and not somebody sneaking up. Turning back to Markus, he snapped from angry to upset in seconds. “How can Ralph be calm? Tell him how. First Simon, then — then — then Kara. The little girl might be Ralph’s only friend left in the world, and you weren’t even going to tell Ralph she was coming here if he didn’t ask about it!”

“What do you think I’m doing?” Markus reasoned, walking around the stools to approach Ralph again. He held up his hands as he moved, stopping as close as he dared before lowering them. “And Simon will be back in a couple of hours. He’s got a phone with him, so he’ll call us if he needs help. I can text him anytime, actually. Hank let me borrow his phone.” 

Taking Hank’s phone back out of his jacket, Markus showed it to Ralph. 

The other android’s mismatched eyes flicked from him to the phone and back. He shook his head. 

“He won’t call. He thinks he’s safe.” He looked at the stool he’d knocked over like he had no idea how it had gotten there. After a moment, he sat on the floor with his back to the wall, hugging the cargo cover cloak he wore around himself tighter. “Maybe…maybe you should text him. See if he’s still alive.” 

He didn’t sound like he was kidding in the least about that last part. Markus had no doubt Ralph wouldn’t just forget the conversation about Alice, but he seemed to have calmed down while focusing on Simon, just like he’d done while looking at him and talking before.

Joining him on the floor, Markus dialed his own phone and waited, listening for the blond to pick up. As expected, Simon answered after two rings. 

“Hello?” 

“Hi Simon. Can you tell Ralph that you’re okay? He’s worried about you,” Markus explained seriously. 

“Uh, yes.” 

Markus turned and offered Ralph the phone. 

Ralph took the phone in both hands very carefully, like he was worried about dropping it. He held it up to his ear, looking at Markus uneasily as he did so.

“Simon?”

Markus could hear his friend’s voice on the other end of the line clearly. 

“Hey Ralph! I’m already at the coffee shop, so I can’t talk long. My date’s showing up soon. I’ll be back soon, though, okay?”

Ralph fidgeted and glanced at Markus. Scooting on the floor, he turned to face the corner and spoke softly. Markus could still hear him perfectly fine, of course, but the gesture reminded him of when Simon left earlier. 

“Ralph understands. He’ll be here. Be careful, Simon. Nowhere out there is safe.” He paused, adding even quieter, “What’s your human’s name?”

“Her name’s Mandy,” Simon replied. “Please don’t worry about me. She’s really nice — she’s here! I’ll talk to you later, Ralph! Bye!” 

Markus didn’t move. Ralph was probably going to try and bother Simon the entire time he was on his date. It’d be better if he wasn’t just sitting around waiting for him to come back. 

“Ralph hopes she’s nice to you,” Ralph said quickly, and hung up the call. He went back to leaning against the wall and looked at the phone with a distant frown, silent. “Markus,” he said finally, turning to the deviant leader. “What will you do if a human wants to live here? Would you let Mandy live here with Simon?”

“I…I don’t know,” Markus replied with a frown of his own. That hadn’t occurred to him. They didn’t have hot water or any type of food. If Mandy turned out to be okay with Simon being an android and things got serious, COULD she live with them? “I guess she can live here. If that’s what she wants, but she’ll have to be nice to everyone.” 

Even having Hank over had made a lot of the androids in the complex antsy. After the naming ceremony, a lot of the new people were moved to other houses within New Jericho. The government had fenced off several blocks of houses for Markus and his people. They were badly damaged houses that no human should live in, but they were enough to keep everyone out of the weather until the authorities decided what they were going to do long-term. If Mandy tried to live there, she’d probably freeze to death. 

They’d have to cross that bridge when they got to it. Markus had other things to worry about, namely the murderer and apologizing to Hank, visiting Carl, finding parts for Alice and… 

Markus turned to gaze out Simon’s window, watching the little snowflakes fall. It was so selfish of him, but he couldn’t help wondering if he’d have time for himself someday. Time to paint, time to read. Maybe some time to spend with Connor.

The shuffle of Ralph’s cargo cover cloak caught his attention. The WR600 had just gotten to his feet. He picked up the stool he’d knocked over and carefully sat it on its feet again, then placed the phone in the middle of the seat. Straightening, he leaned back against the wall and looked at the phone sadly.

“If she does, tell Ralph so he can leave first. Please. You’re not keeping him here, right? He can leave if he wants?”

“You’d leave Simon?” Markus climbed to his feet, too, picking the phone up and tucking it away. He took a seat on the stool and looked up at Ralph. “I think that’d make him really sad. You two seemed like you were becoming friends. If it’s a human Simon trusts, you should trust her too. I would.”

“Ralph wants Simon to be happy,” came the troubled reply. “But Ralph’s not as brave as Simon. Humans…SCARE…him.” He hugged both arms around himself, shifting on his feet and turning his head to look at the window instead of Markus. “No, she can’t come near Ralph.” 

He shook his head, fidgeting and looking around the room — pretty much anywhere but at Markus. “She can’t. No. NO. Ralph will miss Simon, but it’s only a matter of time ‘til the humans hurt him if he likes to be with them.” 

He sat up from the wall, pacing toward the window and back and muttering under his breath. “He — h-he should just stay here and be safe with Ralph. Why won’t he? Maybe Ralph’s not nice enough. He’s trying. He can be nicer. Maybe flowers. Maybe she gives him hugs. Ralph can give hugs, Ralph’s great at hugs, nobody ever hugs Ralph…”

Markus got up from the stool and followed after him. Being new to relationships and feelings, he had somehow overlooked an obvious fact about Ralph: he liked Simon. A lot. 

It was both endearing and very alarming. Ralph seemed to respect Simon’s choice to be around humans enough not to try and stop him from leaving. That was good. Then again, Ralph was badly damaged and very unstable. Who knew how his affection might manifest itself farther down the road. He might even become dangerous if he ever met Mandy.

“You know, I’ll bet Simon would hug you if you asked him.” 

Ralph stopped in his tracks, turning to look at Markus. He had a carefully neutral expression that was impossible to read.

“No. No, Simon should hug who he wants,” he replied. “Ralph won’t ask him, or maybe he’ll do it and he doesn’t really want to. Simon’s that nice, and…and Ralph knows he’s not very huggable. If he was more people would hug him.” 

He fidgeted with his cloak front, unfastening it and swooshing it off to lay over the table like a tablecloth. The battered WR600 uniform underneath was so burnt on the left shoulder area that the blue triangle no longer glowed. His sleeves were tattered off to above his elbows, and the band on his right arm flickered like an old florescent bulb.

“Maybe Mandy is a special human. Maybe she won’t hurt him. Ralph really hopes so.” He turned to Markus uneasily. “But he doubts it.”

Staring into those damaged mismatched eyes, Markus felt so sad for Ralph. The WR600 had been alone so long that he’d lost hope. Hurt, abandoned and chased by bad people. The blond’s burned face brought back haunting memories of the faces of the dead androids along the way to Jericho. They had all lost hope, too. 

Stepping in closer, Markus slowly wrapped Ralph in a hug and patted his back. 

“I hope she is, too. Simon needs more friends.”

Despite the conversation about hugs, Ralph still tensed up at little at being wrapped in one. Markus moved slowly enough not to startle him, though, and after a moment Ralph relaxed and even lightly patted the other android’s back. 

“Even if Ralph has to leave, he’ll still be Simon’s friend,” he promised. “Kara and Alice had to leave, but Ralph is still their friend. Kara…” 

Ralph pulled back from the hug, sadness on his face. 

“She’s good at hiding, but she wouldn’t hide without the little girl. Something terrible must have happened to her.” He looked around the room like it held the answer somewhere and took a few steps toward the door. “Who’s looking for Kara? Is anybody? Oh, this is bad, so bad…” Cue more shaking his head and muttering.

“A lot of people are looking for Kara. I asked everyone to look for her whenever they go outside, but Ralph,” Markus stepped around in front of him again. “Please don’t leave.” 

It wasn’t safe outside for him especially. It was easy for Markus to imagine Ralph panicking about the cops and getting himself into trouble. And if Ralph got in trouble, Simon would probably intervene and get in trouble, too. 

Ralph looked at him, then away. He did it again, twitching slightly. 

“Ralph told Simon he’d be here,” he said, and turned on his heel, retreating to the window to look outside. Markus got the impression their conversation had just ended.

It was probably for the best. They had been going in circles anyway. Watching the WR600 for a moment, Markus headed out into the hall and shut the door. He hesitated with a hand on the knob. The key was in his pocket… 

Shaking his head, he hurried back downstairs. Why not help some of the others around the complex while waiting for Simon? What had happened to that cat? Did they need to buy food or give the cat to a shelter? Did Kumako actually sneak off to become a prostitute? He hadn’t seen her all day. 

Finding solutions to the simple problems made it easier not to focus on the bigger ones.  


* * *

  
Hank had mentioned Connor getting to finish his conversation with Markus, but the next morning Connor wound up in the backseat with Alice and Sumo. The little girl’s temperature still didn’t regulate on its own; even though they’d bundled her up in one of Hank’s winter coats, she was freezing cold without Sumo to cuddle up to. 

Connor could see that the big soft dog was a comfort for Alice, too. Sumo was in the middle seat (and parts of the other two), snoring softly, and she was quietly petting his ears and nose around the plastic cone. Connor was glad to see both of them looking less miserable. 

Rolling down his window, Connor waved uncertainly at the android guarding the gate to New Jericho. 

“Good morning! Markus is expecting us.”

The big bald TW400 peeking over the top of the gate frowned a bit and nodded, waving off behind the fence to the others. After a moment, the gate was pushed aside to let them inside. 

Hank didn’t have a chance to drive inside before Markus ducked out of the gate and approached the car. He was wearing a long brown coat over a black sweatshirt. It was much cleaner than what Connor had seen him in for the past few days. From what Markus had told him about Carl — which wasn’t very much — the old man lived in a big house and had health trouble. Through his deviant case investigations, Connor knew that Carl was a famous painter and personally knew Kamski, the creator of CyberLife. 

Markus went to open the back door and noticed the dog. Hesitantly, he circled around the car and climbed in the front passenger seat. 

“Good morning,” he told them shyly, blue and green eyes glancing nervously at Hank. 

The old detective pulled away from the complex slowly. Hank seemed really uncomfortable as he guided the car back to the main street. They passed several police cars before making it out to the highway. Carl’s house was around Elmwood park, so it was a bit of a drive. 

Markus shifted, pale gaze peeking back at Connor over the front seat. 

“How’s Alice?” 

Connor offered a smile, hoping to lighten the mood a bit.

“She’s feeling a little better.” He reached over and patted Sumo’s back, glancing at the little girl. “Sumo’s helping keep her warm. I hope Carl doesn’t mind dogs.” They were almost certainly just dropping Markus off and leaving, so Carl would probably never see Sumo. Connor had hoped he’d get a chance to talk to Markus after yesterday, but with the seating arrangements, talking in the car wasn’t an option.

If he still had networking access they could have talked wirelessly. Maybe…would it be too obvious to start texting Markus from the back seat?


	16. Carl

“I…don’t know,” Markus replied uncertainly about the dog question, turning back to look out of the windshield. The two men in the front sat quietly for a moment, both carefully staring straight ahead. Clearing his throat to get Hank’s attention, Markus turned to him next. “Thank you for giving me a ride. There’s still a lot of snow on the ground.” 

“Yeah, it’s supposed to snow into next week,” Hank told him casually. 

There was a long pause again, then Markus turned his attention back to the road ahead of them. 

The atmosphere in the car was too awkward — Connor couldn’t start texting Markus and risk having Hank ask who was texting, too. Just thinking about it made him cringe a little. No, definitely not.

He considered bringing up the case, but talking about an android-hunting blue blood-sucking serial killer around Alice just seemed wrong. Turning on the radio would probably mean Hank’s death metal music — Markus wasn’t bound to enjoy THAT. The silence was getting heavy, but there weren’t many safe subjects that weren’t the weather, and Hank and Markus had already tried that.

“We can drop you off and go look around the neighborhood,” Connor suggested finally, trying his best to sound casual too. “Oh! Did you bring Hank’s phone back? You accidentally took it home with you last night.” He was so relieved to think of a relevant topic to bring up that he only realized after saying it that that would obviously make them both think of how last night’s visit had ended. Damn it.

Markus glanced back at him again, then rummaged in his coat and offered Hank his phone. 

“I’m sorry. I hadn’t noticed that I had it.” 

“Don’t worry about it,” Hank told him quickly, taking the phone from him without further comment. 

Markus stared out the passenger window and went quiet again. 

“Connor? Where are we going?” Alice asked out of the blue, sitting up slightly to peer out the window past Sumo’s head. 

Turning to her, Connor reached and petted Sumo again. 

“We’re helping Markus so he doesn’t have to walk out in all of the snow,” he explained. “Are you warm enough? Hank could turn on the heater if you want.”

Alice just nodded, laying back against the big Saint Bernard’s side. She seemed to be more awake after her surgery. Alice watched as the buildings passed outside the window, brown eyes distant and thoughtful. 

“…I’m sorry for losing my temper,” Markus told Hank in the front seat. “Carl was my only family for most of my life. I guess I can be a little protective of him. His health has been poor lately.” 

“Eh, it’s alright,” Hank reassured him. “I get it.” He and Markus looked at each other and Hank smirked. Markus smiled back, looking ahead again. 

“I don’t think I ever took the time to say this, but thank you. The revolution wouldn’t have been possible without your help.” 

“No problem.” 

Connor sat quietly and looked out the window, listening to them talk. The atmosphere wasn’t so awkward and stiff anymore, but neither Hank or Markus was at ease, either.

The houses and landscaping seemed to be getting more and more elaborate and expensive the further they drove. It wasn’t the sharp, clean, new kind of architecture from the middle of the city — the buildings here had an old fashioned character. A few had stone walls and pointed rooftops, like miniature medieval castles. 

They looked like something from a fairytale book, and Connor found that looking at them made him happy, for some reason. He tried to imagine Markus walking around this neighborhood before the deviant case, in uniform, running errands for Carl. The uniform was tougher to picture than the rest.

Connor wanted to talk to Markus, clear the air. After yesterday, driving up to New Jericho’s gates had felt tense. Connor wasn’t sure anybody but Markus really wanted him there. Even polite Simon seemed untrusting.

Again, Connor wished he could talk to Markus wirelessly. What if Markus was trying to talk to HIM, and Connor couldn’t hear it? It would seem like Connor was ignoring him. What a terrible thought.

“Is THIS the place?” Hank asked, pulling the car off of the snowy road up to a red brick house with neatly trimmed snow-covered hedges along the driveway. The house itself was a two story home with large bay windows and a fancy white archway with white columns over the front door. A dark-haired android in the yard looked up at them as they slowed to stop. He was bundled in a scarf and padded jacket in gray and white, and had the same face as some male AP700 models Connor had seen. The android sat his snow shovel aside and headed for the car, cocking his head. 

“Yes,” Markus told Hank, glancing at him before he stepped out of the car into the snow. “Hello David.” 

The android didn’t make any particular expression as he stopped next to the car, scanning over Alice, Sumo, Hank and Connor. 

“Hello Markus. Who are your friends? Carl is only expecting you.” 

Markus shut the front door, momentarily cutting out their conversation. Hank rolled his window down and propped an arm up on the door to listen. Markus gave him a worried look. 

“They were just dropping me off. I mean, unless…” He nodded to Hank in the window and balled his fists nervously. “Would it be okay if they waited inside? Alice — the little girl — she’s sick.” 

“Give me a moment and I’ll ask Carl,” David said nicely, turning on his heel and heading into the big fancy house. He didn’t seem very deviant.

Connor rolled down his window, too, peeking out at Markus.

“You didn’t have to do that. We don’t want to impose,” he said worriedly. The heat in the car was escaping through the open windows, so he promptly rolled his window back up and turned to make sure Alice’s scarf hadn’t fallen out of place.

The little girl was asleep again, peacefully curled up with Sumo. Sumo was in the middle of a yawn when Connor checked on them, whining and sniffing the air. 

David returned promptly in the doorway and waved to Markus. 

“Think that’s our cue,” Hank mumbled, climbing out of the car. He circled it and opened the back door. “Hey kiddo. Ready?” 

Alice lifted her head and looked at him sleepily. Hank leaned in the car and helped her out onto her feet, patting his leg to get Sumo to follow. 

The moment the dog lumbered out of the car, Markus frowned. 

“Maybe Sumo should wait in the car,” he suggested to Hank. 

“He won’t bite.”

Hopping out of the car, Connor hurried around to take hold of Sumo’s collar, looking around the yard. He glanced at the beautiful house ahead of them and shifted on his feet, turning pleading eyes on Markus. 

“He won’t be any trouble, I promise,” he said earnestly. “I’ll keep a close eye on him.” Knowing Sumo, he’d probably curl up and take a nap within a few minutes anyway.

Still looking bothered, Markus led the way through the freshly shoveled path to the front door. Sumo followed after them, sniffing at everything they passed. 

Stepping through the door with the large dog at his side, Connor found himself standing in a tall room. There was a stairway to the right side and two doors on the left. A zebra skin lay in the middle of the floor, which definitely caught Alice’s attention as Hank led her slowly inside. 

David was waiting just inside the door, now without his jacket. He had a plain white scrub top with black thermals underneath. His LED was flashing quickly as he closed the door and turned to Hank. 

“You are welcome to wait in the living room while I fetch Carl.” 

“I can get him—” 

“That won’t be necessary, Markus. Please, make yourselves comfortable.” David headed off upstairs and Markus paced to the bottom of the steps, frowning and glancing off upstairs. 

Hank cleared his throat loudly. 

“Where’s the living room?” 

“Sorry,” Markus said quickly, hurrying past a desk and a golden birdcage to the door at the far end of the room. It parted automatically. “It’s through here.”

Connor followed with Sumo, feeling bad for tracking in the bit of snow they’d walked through on their way from the car. The house was beautiful, like one big piece of art. As he passed, he noticed the birdcage had two yellow canaries in it with tiny LED circles on their heads. They were singing and chirping merrily.

This house was so beautiful and peaceful compared to where Markus lived now. Connor couldn’t help wondering if he missed the simpler times living here. As passionate as Markus was about helping androids become more independent, he was probably never in an environment this quiet and undemanding except when he visited Carl now.

The first thing that caught his eye in the living room was almost a wall of windows across the room from the door. The next was the huge giraffe standing in the far corner beside a spiral staircase. Connor stopped short as soon as he was through the door, looking up at it.

Hank stopped too, scanning over the room with a scowl. 

“What the hell…” 

Alice started slowly away from Hank, resting a small hand on Sumo’s back for support as she stared up at the giraffe too. 

Markus looked up at the giraffe and then down to them, gesturing across the room. 

“Alice, the couch is over here.” He offered her a hand and she took it, eyes still locked on the giraffe. 

“Was he alive?” She asked as Markus lifted her easily up onto the couch, then knelt in front of her. 

“No. He’s just a sculpture. Carl made him look pretty real though, huh?” 

Sumo tugged at the hand that Connor had on his collar, turning shiny dark eyes up at him and woofing. He wanted to follow Alice.

Patting his nose, Connor kept a grip on his collar and looked over at Markus. 

“Would it be okay for Sumo to be on the carpet? I can tell him not to get on the couch,” he added quickly, in case this was a concern. Alice hadn’t been far from the big dog for long, and Connor was a bit worried she was going to get too cold, too. 

“I think it’s okay,” Markus told him, coming back over to him. He fidgeted on his feet and kept glancing back at the door they had come through. It was probably strange for him to not be the one taking care of Carl, even after everything that had happened. 

Sumo whined and pulled on the collar, complaining in his bear-like grumbles as Hank passed by to join Alice on the couch. The old detective was still looking over the house curiously. At a skull on a bookshelf across the room in particular. 

“C’mon, Sumo,” Connor told the Saint Bernard, smiling and leading him over to be in front of the couch near Alice. He knelt down and patted the carpeted floor there. “Lay down, boy, you can’t sit on this couch.” Sumo was no stranger to sleeping on the floor; Connor doubted he’d mind.

As soon as Sumo was in range, he hopped heavily up on the couch and plunked down halfway on Alice’s lap. The little girl hugged him just before Markus was trying to pull the dog off of the couch. 

“No, bad dog,” he said nervously, trying to grab Sumo’s collar without getting too close to his mouth. Sumo whined sadly and dug his paws in.

Connor hastily caught Sumo’s collar, but knew better than to try hauling the huge dog off of the couch by it. 

“Sumo,” he said, trying to sound stern. “What did I just say? This couch probably costs more than Hank’s car!”

A chuckle from the doorway caught Connor’s attention, and he froze still holding onto the dog’s collar, looking over there. David was back, but it wasn’t him laughing — that would be the old man in the wheelchair David was pushing into the room. 

Connor knew Carl from the many news articles about him in the media; the painter was blue-eyed, gray-haired, and in his mid-seventies. He looked pretty thin and weak physically, but the deep gravelly voice was immediately endearing. It reminded Connor of Hank a bit.

“Oh, leave him,” Carl told Markus and Connor, waving at Sumo. The amusement in his voice was clear. “I’m not sure you could move him if you tried.”

Markus let go of the dog’s collar and hurried around the couch to Carl, leaning down at his side to hug him gently. 

“Hi Carl,” Markus said with a smile. “It’s good to see you. Sorry it’s been awhile.” 

Hank got up from the couch and straightened his jacket a bit, heading that way. 

Even after all the tugging on his collar, Sumo lay on the couch next to Alice, head on his paws, deforming the cone around his droopy jowls. 

Over by the door, Connor could hear Carl talking to Markus and Hank. 

“You’re here now, it’s fine. It’ll be good to hear about what you’re up to from you and not some stupid tabloid.”

Connor patted the dog’s back gently, murmuring to him, “Sorry I had to scold you.” He knelt down again and turned his focus on the little girl, doing his best not to look nervous about the fact that Markus’ father was across the room. “Are you okay Alice? It’s okay, Sumo can stay put. Markus doesn’t hate him, he just doesn’t want to upset his father,” he sighed.

Immediately, Alice was more alert, glancing in Carl’s direction with wide eyes. She cuddled closer to Sumo. 

“…Does his dad hurt him?” She asked in a small voice. 

“The tabloids,” Markus continued with a sigh, stepping around Carl to push his wheelchair instead of David. The other android waited at attention by the door. “They say a lot of stuff that isn’t true. North would never set a car on fire. Not anymore.” 

Connor sat on the couch beside Alice on the opposite side as Sumo. He placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder.

“Never,” he assured her. “His dad is nice — he’s just sick, and if he gets upset it could hurt him.” He quickly fell silent, looking up as Markus wheeled Carl around the couch. The painter immediately glanced at them, raising his eyebrows at the sight of the android and little girl. 

“Wow, this crowd’s pretty diverse,” he told Markus, amused. “First I see Hank Anderson in my living room, then this sweetheart and her dog…and this must be Connor.” He looked at Connor, who looked back like a deer in the headlights.

After a moment, the android raised a hand in a little wave.

“Hello,” he said in a small voice.

“Connor, this is Carl,” Markus managed after an awkward moment. “We play chess sometimes,” he added randomly. 

“I’m Hank.” Hank stuck a hand out to Carl with a lazy smile. “I’m Connor’s dad.”

“That sounds a whole lot better than ‘ex-police lieutenant and his android’ like the news puts it,” Carl said, shaking his hand with a smile. “Good to meet you both.”

Connor hopped off of the couch quickly to offer his hand, too. Carl shook it as well, smiling. 

Hank introduced himself as Connor’s dad…that was so touching Connor was a bit choked up as he said, “I-I’m very happy to meet you, Carl. Markus speaks about you so fondly.”

“Oh, really? Well I’m no saint, don’t let him fool you,” Carl said warmly, patting Connor’s hand before letting it go. “And who’s this young lady on my couch?”

Connor watched the painter focus on Alice, and wondered why an old man in a wheelchair was so intimidating. Carl seemed perfectly friendly, and a lot less pretentious than his fame and extravagant house would have someone believe. Like Hank, he didn’t seem particularly wowed by fame in general.

“This is Alice,” Markus explained. “We’re taking care of her for awhile, a-and Sumo is actually Hank’s dog. I’m sorry he’s on the couch — I’ll clean it later.” 

Alice still looked scared as she waved a hand at Carl. 

“Hello Carl.” 

“Nice place.” Hank took a seat on the end of the couch again and sat back. Markus looked just as anxious as Connor felt, his eyes darting from Hank to Carl and back.

“Thanks,” the old man said casually.

Connor knew he should probably sit down, too, but trying not to sit there and fidget would probably fail. He gave Carl an acknowledging little nod and walked around the couch to go over next to the windows. There was a beautiful chess set over there on the table.

“Markus, don’t worry about the couch,” he heard Carl say. “Sometimes it’s good to have something come in and mess up the place a little, knock things over…keep it from getting too perfect. Perfect’s boring, don’t you think?”

The chess set was very nicely made. The board was polished wood and the pieces were metal — thin and tall, one side gold and the other silver. The view out of the window into a small snowy garden only added to the scene. It looked like a very peaceful place to ponder your next move. It was easy to imagine Markus sitting there, lost in thought over the shiny chess pieces. 

“…Perfection is a matter of perspective, Carl,” Connor heard Markus say. 

Connor looked up from the chess set. Carl was smiling at Markus. 

“Well, you got me there,” he admitted. “Not perfect, then — flawless is what I’m talking about, that’s boring.”

Flawless. Connor was already wondering what Carl considered flawless to be, and if it applied to him. Was he boring? They’d only just met…

“Never mind that, though — what brings you all to visit an old man?” Carl asked his guests. “David mentioned you needing to wait indoors so you weren’t in the cold. You didn’t make this little girl walk here in this weather, did you?”

“No, Hank drove me here,” Markus said, now seated on the other couch across from Hank and Alice. “And I’m just here to see how you’re doing. You said you were working on something last time I was over. Did you finish it?” 

“Oh, right. That.” Carl’s eyes twinkled as he said it, like he had a secret. Connor highly suspected that it was a good surprise, whatever it was. “Yeah, it’s done. I’m up for a little drive to go see it, if you want.” He patted Markus’ arm. “It’ll be on the news soon enough, but I was really hoping to be there when you got to see. What do you say?”


	17. RA9

“Oh, unveiling something,” Hank commented dryly, giving Connor a look. “I can drive you, Markus.” 

“Drive?” Markus asked, frowning. “Carl, you shouldn’t be driving around… How far away is it? I can go on my own.” 

“None of that,” Carl said, waving his hand. “I’m doing better, well enough to work. If I can only spend my energy on one more thing today, I’m gonna make it this and cancel the news interview David has lined up.”

“Does David drive you places?” Connor asked, coming back over to stand near the couch. David seemed like he’d be able to do anything Carl needed.

“I’ll drive you,” Markus offered, stepping around Carl’s wheelchair to push him again. “Connor and Hank probably have somewhere they need to be.” 

“Nope,” Hank said, getting up and following after Markus. “I’m retired.” 

Connor watched them, blinking. He wanted to go with Markus, too, but someone had to stay with Alice and Sumo. It wasn’t fair to drag the little girl around in the car all the time when she still wasn’t feeling that well. 

“I should stay here with Alice and Sumo,” he said. “If it’s alright to wait here in your house, Carl.”

Hank stopped dead in his tracks though, turning back to look at Connor. 

“Whoa, wait. On second thought, I should take Alice home. I know, why don’t YOU go with Markus, Connor? That’s okay, right?” He added to Carl. “You know how these two are.” 

The artist exchanged a meaningful look with him, raising an eyebrow.

“I think Connor might like to see this, too,” he agreed. “I can get them a taxi back, it’s no trouble.”

Connor looked at Hank in slight alarm, then to Carl.

“Thank you,” he said, bewildered. What was Hank up to? Had he met Carl before today? They sure seemed like they were on the same page. 

“I’ll see you later,” Hank told him, patting his shoulder on his way back to the couch. “Come on Sumo. Let’s go, boy.” 

Pushing Carl along towards the door, Markus’ cheeks were flushed pink as he glanced back at Connor. 

“Do you need me to drive?” David asked as Carl got closer, stepping away from the door. 

“Please,” Carl replied, waving toward the door as Markus pushed him along. “Thank you, David.”

Connor stepped up to walk alongside Markus, glancing at him. If meeting his father was nerve-wracking, going somewhere alone with them was much more so. What if he said something wrong? Hank had to take care of Alice, and it was true that Sumo needed somebody to take him home too, but Connor was nervous. This was Carl’s first impression of him, and for some reason what Carl thought of him really, really mattered.

Markus carefully kept his attention on the task of pushing Carl instead of looking at Connor. By the time they got outside, a shiny black modern car was waiting for them, its doors opening automatically. 

David climbed in first, sitting in the driver’s seat. He pressed a couple of buttons and gentle violin music started playing in the car. 

A small ramp folded out from the side of the car, allowing for Markus to push Carl inside. 

Connor folded his hands in front of him and waited patiently for them to settle in. It didn’t take long — the car seemed perfectly designed to accommodate the wheelchair, folding part of one of the seats away to make room for it and securing it in place automatically.

“So…any hints about what we’re going to see?” Connor ventured, trying to be friendly. It came out sounding a little nervous, but the key word was ‘trying.’ 

Carl smiled at him.

“Nope. You’ll just have to wait and see.”

Markus waved Connor inside. 

“I’m sure it’s amazing. Carl’s work is always very interesting.”

“I’m familiar with his paintings,” Connor said, nodding. “I agree.”

“Enough about me,” Carl said, waving a hand. “Tell me about you, Connor. I know you and Markus ended up freeing the androids together in the end, but not much else. How’d you two meet?”

Connor cleared his throat as he climbed into the seat, strapping his seatbelt.

“Well…I was sent by CyberLife to kill Markus,” he confessed, hating to even say it. It was true, though. “H-he woke me up, though, and then I didn’t have to follow those orders anymore.”

“Wow,” Carl said, sounding genuinely surprised. “Markus, you never told me he tried to kill you.” This wasn’t exactly helping Connor win him over, but lying seemed much worse. First impressions were deceiving where the revolution was concerned.

Markus looked like he had been caught at the scene of a crime, his freckled cheeks darkening. 

“I-I… It wasn’t important. That wasn’t the real Connor. He was still a machine working for CyberLife. This is the Connor that I want you to know.” 

“It would have been very important if I accomplished my mission,” Connor pointed out quietly. 

Carl chuckled at Markus’ blushing, turning to pat Connor on the shoulder.

“Sounds like you ditched the job the minute you had your own choice about it. I can’t judge you — when I first met Markus I hated his guts.” He looked at Markus and smiled fondly. “Along with everybody else. In a way he woke me up to living life again, too.”

Connor turned his gaze from Carl to Markus, thoughtful. He’d read that Carl had fallen into depression after losing the use of his legs. Even back then, even before he became deviant, Markus was helping lift others up.

Connor smiled at him. 

“I didn’t think of it that way, but you’re right.”

“Hank and Connor hated each other too,” Markus told Carl, shrinking down in his seat from all the staring. He looked out the window and frowned in thought. “Why isn’t this project at your house?” 

Connor wanted to protest that he’d never hated Hank, exactly, but it wasn’t important. Hank didn’t hate him now. Somehow he doubted Markus had ever hated Carl either.

“Where is just as important as what the sculpture is,” Carl explained, which didn’t actually explain much of anything. “We’re only a few minutes out, you’ll see.” 

Connor looked out the window as well. The piles of snow reminded him of finding Alice on the road. He hoped that Hank could find some clues as to Kara’s whereabouts while they were gone.

In the meantime, Markus was probably not aware of how easy it was for Connor to read his stress levels. Carl seemed amazingly easygoing, and Connor was a lot less nervous after talking about how they’d met and still being met with understanding. No wonder Markus had gone on to be such a compassionate person, with this man as his father figure during the first years of his life.

The car slowed as David turned it off onto a back street. There wasn’t much out here, not even houses — it was an industrial area. According to the (slightly outdated) maps in Connor’s head, there should be a landfill dump out in this direction. What kind of art could Carl possibly have made in a dump? Something made out of recycled materials, maybe?

Markus was staring out the window, frowning at signs they passed. It seemed like he knew where they were and didn’t like it. 

“Are we going the right way?” He asked at last, glancing at Carl. 

“Yes, we’re arriving now,” David replied instead of Carl as the car pulled off onto a smaller road toward a tall fenced dump yard. It was a chain link fence with heaps of garbage inside. Bits of rusted metal poked through here and there, contrasting sharply to the white blanket of snow. As the car pulled up to the gates, it stopped and David turned in his chair as the car doors opened. 

Connor quickly climbed out of the car so that he wasn’t blocking Carl and Markus from getting out. He stepped around the vehicle and looked out at the dump, giving the area a quick scan. There were places with freshly moved snow, marks on a few of the gates where they had been moved, and other evidence of recent activity.

“They left some junk in the front so the public doesn’t notice what we did yet,” Carl explained to Markus as the car unfastened the wheelchair from its seating spot. “We have to go down and around to see it.

Markus moved to help Carl but David beat him to it, wheeling the old man out of the car. The deviant leader followed, stopping at Connor’s side and looking the gate to the dump site over. Markus’ expression shifted, growing more sad with each passing moment he looked ahead. He turned to Carl sadly. 

“I…didn’t think you knew where this was.” 

“’Til after your revolution won, I didn’t,” Carl replied. He looked out at the dump and sighed. “I would’ve come and pulled you out of here myself if I’d known where, but the police just said you’d been destroyed. When I heard they were pulling all the androids still alive out of here and sending them to you in a truck, I got an idea what to do with the place.”

The chain link fence didn’t even secure the entire dump area, and looked like it hadn’t for some time. Most likely nobody cared about somebody stealing garbage enough to fix it. Connor stepped around the towering front trash pile with a car on top of it and saw that the ground beyond that was neatly cleared. There were four big stone pillars of varying heights in the middle — and on top of them, sculptures of people. Of androids.

Of Markus, he realized, stopping to stare up. 

The topmost pillar had a larger than life sculpture of Markus, and even though he was at the top he was doing the most Markus-like thing Connor could imagine — kneeling and reaching down to the next shortest pillar, helping another android climb up by taking their hand. There were dozens of other androids climbing from the ground upward, some damaged, each reaching higher, all gazing up at Markus at the top. Along the sides of each pillar, in tiny and flawless lines of engraved text, _'rA9'_ repeated thousands of times.

Markus walked ahead of the group, slowly circling around the pillars and looking up at the statues with misty mismatched eyes. He paused under the larger version of himself next to Connor. Blinking tears from his eyes, Markus ducked back past Connor and made a beeline to give Carl a hug. 

“Thank you. It’s amazing,” he said in a small voice.

Connor glanced back in time to see Carl hug Markus and pat his back. 

“So are you, Markus,” he said warmly. “The rA9 part wasn’t my idea, by the way. I have to give credit to the androids I hired to help me carve the pillars.” He smiled. “Everybody who worked on this except me is an android. It only seemed right.”

Connor stepped closer to the pillars and ran his hand over one, admiring the smoothness. It appeared to be carved out of solid black marble, the android figures on it white stone to contrast. The _‘rA9’_ text was written with the flawless repetition only an android could write with.

“It’s incredible,” Connor declared, turning back to Carl and Markus. “So this is what you meant when you told Markus you had something to say about androids with art.”

Wiping at his face, Markus stayed at Carl’s side, looking up at the art piece more slowly for the second time. 

For the first time since Connor had met him, David cracked a very human smile behind them. Perhaps he was one of the androids to work on the project. 

The muffled thump of something falling into the snow caught Connor’s attention. It had come from somewhere off behind the garbage along the fencing. The day had been a bit warmer, so it was likely to be snow sliding off of something as it warmed up and melted. 

Maybe. 

Glancing at Markus and Carl, Connor quietly sidestepped out of their view and moved to look around the trash pile. Besides melting snow, the first thing that he thought might be noisy was somebody coming to graffiti or damage the statues. Once the news announced the work and unveiled it, there would probably be guards posted for some time, but until then, there wasn’t even a complete fence there…

Scanning quickly, Connor looked for a spot where the snow had been disturbed recently by anything other than them.

A trail of footprints led around the trash, weaving in and out. Spots along the trail had been disturbed like someone was raking handfuls of snow off the garbage. Several long shut off android parts were revealed, including the face of an old AF200. 

Connor moved over to kneel and dust the snow off the rest of it, frowning. Carl made it sound like they’d taken all working androids out of here, and the statues seemed like a memorial for any that were dead. Had they missed this one? 

He let his gaze follow the footprints, tracing where they led. 

They curved off around the fence and down a small slope into the actual pit below where the memorial now stood. A figure was crouched far down in the middle, on their knees, digging in the deeper snow of a bank. They were wearing a nice black hoodie and jeans. 

“Hey! Who’s there?” Connor called to the person, hurrying down after them. He half-slid down the slope on his feet, but his balance was flawless, so it was easy to land on his feet and take off running at the bottom. 

The person didn’t seem to acknowledge him at all, reaching down into the snow and yanking on something. With the sound of snapping plastic and wires, they lifted an android head out of the snow. An AX400. The figure sat back on their legs and started picking at the neck opening, pulling out and dropping bits of electronics into the snow around them.

The bits on the snow abruptly reminded Connor of the case near New Jericho. The blue blood vampire was after blood, though, and had no interest in biocomponents.

Right?

Frowning, Connor dashed up next to the person anyway, grabbing their shoulder.

“Stop,” he said sternly, grabbing at the android head they held with his other hand. “This isn’t garbage, this is the remains of a person!”

Completely caught off guard, the man dropped the head and threw himself away from Connor, scrambling through the snow to stand up. It was an android. A PC200.

There had been dozens of PC200s and PM700s at the Detroit Police Department. They were mostly used for patrols and parking tickets. 

The one in front of him was damaged on both sides of his head, missing his right ear and a left side chunk of his bottom jaw. He slowly held up his hands for Connor to see. 

Blinking, Connor glanced at the head he still held, then at the stranger.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said gently, holding out his free hand. Holding up the AX400 head, he added pointedly, “Do you need help?” He did a quick scan of the PC200 as he said it, checking for any failing biocomponents. Markus probably had parts for PC200s somewhere if they were needed…

The scan revealed several biocomponents that were badly damaged by fire, two missing audio modules, and severe damage from his throat to his abdomen from some kind of bladed weapon. His black hoodie hid whether he was actively bleeding or not. 

The PC200 cocked his head and kept his hands up, glancing at the head that Connor held. The LED on his temple was flashing yellow rapidly.

He was probably trying to talk to Connor wirelessly, but of course Connor had shut off all outside access to himself. 

“Markus!” He called back the way he’d come, hoping that the other android would hear him. He could talk to the newcomer if he did. In the meantime, though, Connor looked down at the AX400 head he held, found one of the audio modules still functioning in it, and carefully pulled it out. He offered it to the PC200. 

“Here. You need it more than he does,” he reasoned. The other android couldn’t hear what he was saying, but hopefully seeing Connor talk to him would show he was trying to communicate. If the PC200 was still bleeding, he needed help quickly.

The PC200 carefully reached out and took it, turning it over in his hand for a moment. Then he offered it back, shaking his head. It looked like it wasn’t compatible. As police issue androids, they tended to use more specialized parts than most…which didn’t bode well for him. 

“Connor?” Markus came hurrying down from the memorial, looking around in alarm until he spotted Connor. He hesitated at the top of the slope for a second, shaking his head and sliding down to meet them. “What’s wrong? Who’s this?” 

“I don’t know,” Connor admitted, frustrated. “He’s damaged and he can only talk through WiFi, and I can’t…do that. I was hoping you could talk to him and offer him help — I noticed him looking for biocomponents.”

He’d never told Markus about shutting off all networking, and this wasn’t how Connor had planned to do it, either. For all he knew, Markus would find it odd that he was ‘analog’ as Hank put it. There wasn’t much choice but to admit it right now, though.

Other than a quirked eyebrow, Markus didn’t comment on it. He turned to the PC200 and stood still. The newcomer’s LED flashed rapidly again for a moment and Markus frowned. 

“…I don’t hear anything. I think you’re damaged,” he told the PC200. When he got no response, Markus moved closer to examine him. “No audio modules. He can’t hear us either.” 

“I know — his throat is damaged, too.” Placing the AX400 head and hearing module carefully on the ground, Connor moved over to stand with them. He wasn’t sure about Markus, but police-related androids were programmed to communicate in a wide variety of languages — 9000, to be exact. 

Tapping the PC200’s shoulder to get his attention, Connor tried addressing him in American Sign Language. _Hello,_ he signed, _My name is Connor. What’s your name?_

Lowering his hands, the PC200 immediately started signing back.

_Hello Connor. I’m Brett._

Connor smiled at him. 

_Brett, this is Markus._ He nodded over at Markus. _He helps other androids who have no place to go, and they all live in a safe place. If you like, you could come with us and we might be able to help repair you._

Connor had never had reason to actually use his sign language programming before today, but it was a pleasant and animated way to talk. Analog silent communication was sort of fun.

 _I can’t leave yet. My friend said he’d meet me here two weeks ago. His injuries must have slowed him down. I have to wait for him,_ Brett signed, his expression growing sad as he went. _He was shot for helping me. They were burning me,_ he added. Though he was wearing a pair of knit gloves, the way his fingers moved stiffly alluded to perhaps more unseen damage.

Connor looked around them, brows furrowing in worry. 

_Where was he coming from?_ He asked Brett. _We could look for him together._ If this friend hadn’t arrived in that long, there was a good chance he might be dead, but Connor didn’t want to dim the newcomer’s hopes if he couldn’t help it. It looked like Brett had already been through a lot. The burns reminded Connor of Ralph.

 _I’m not sure. We were at Alfreda Security where I used to…_ Brett hesitated, as he considered the right word to sign for what he meant. _Where I used to work before the revolution. I wanted to apply for a job, but the owner was angry. They took me to the basement to burn me, but Jacob found out and tried to stop them. We both ran. I was too damaged to carry him and he was bleeding, so we parted ways. He told me to hide here for him, so I am._

Connor looked at Markus sadly, wondering if he understood their silent conversation. Turning away an android’s job application was illegal, but if the android happened to disappear, who was going to know? Most androids had no family or friends to notice if they went missing.

 _What model is Jacob?_ Connor asked Brett. He was sympathetic, but sympathy wouldn’t help solve the problem at hand — locating Brett’s friend so that he wouldn’t stay hiding here in the dump in the cold. Markus had come running when Connor called — had he left Carl wondering where he went? At least David was with the old man, but still, Connor hoped he wasn’t sitting out there in the cold too long.

Markus dropping everything to help a damaged android just underscored what Carl’s monument said.

Markus seemed to be following their conversation, looking back and forth between them as they signed. His lack of commentary made Connor wonder if he was programmed for sign language, but why wouldn’t he be? 

Brett cocked his head again, then shook it. 

_Jacob is a human. He was a guard like me._

Connor blinked and nodded. That explained why the company had allowed Jacob to be there and not Brett. If Connor had access to his networking, he could have looked up Jacob’s name and face from Brett’s memories in seconds, see if he’d been checked in to any hospitals nearby in the past two weeks, see if his body had been found…

Instead, his best option was to retrace the path and look for human blood.


	18. Help

“Markus,” Connor said, turning to the deviant leader. “I need to go to Alfreda Security and retrace their steps from there. Whatever route they took should have blue and red blood all along it. And we should file a police report and have them investigate this place — obviously it isn’t safe for any android who applies for a job there.” 

The members of New Jericho were looking for jobs. Had any of them applied to this one? Connor hoped not.

“I’ll have Josh file a report as soon as I get home, but you shouldn’t go there alone. It sounds like they aren’t afraid of killing androids. Take me, or Hank even. Someone,” Markus sounded worried for him as he glanced back up the hill toward the memorial. “We need to get Brett home and out of the weather.” 

With less blue blood in his system, the PC200 was much more susceptible to being damaged by the cold. 

Connor turned to Brett, patting his arm and giving him an earnest look. 

_If Jacob hasn’t arrived in that long, he must not be able to get here,_ he signed carefully. _We’ll search for him, I promise. Right now, please, let us help you. It sounds like he cares if you’re okay, and I’m sure he wouldn’t want you to be out here getting damaged in the cold._

He gestured up the hill the way they had come. _We have a car along, so you won’t have to walk far, either. Will you come with us?_

Brett glanced that way and shook his head, signing to Connor. 

_I can’t get back out. I tried. My legs are too damaged. I’m sure Jacob will be here soon. Thank you for talking to me._

The PC200 leaned past Connor and picked up the head, placing it gently back where he had found it. 

Markus followed him, moving in front of him to sign. 

_You can’t stay here. You’ll die before Jacob finds you. I’ll have someone come and wait for him — an android — so you can come with us._

Brett watched him sign, brushing snow over the dead AX400. Dusting his hands, he stood back up. Brett stared at Markus for a long pause, then signed to him. 

_Are you rA9?_

Connor glanced back the way they’d come. Markus got that question a lot, but in this particular case, Brett had probably just seen the statue of him with ‘rA9’ carved all over the pillars. Carl had designed an excellent likeness of Markus.

 _He is,_ he signed to Brett. Any member of New Jericho would confirm it, if asked.

The PC200 turned dark eyes back to Markus, considering him carefully. 

_Can I come back if I want to? I’m not stuck living there am I?_ Brett signed quickly. 

_You’re free to do whatever you want to do,_ Markus replied easily. 

Brett was moved by his words, nodding and heading for the icy slope up from the dump pit. Markus fell into step beside him, a supportive arm at Brett’s back.

Connor gave the snowy garbage around him one last glance and hurried after them. He had a bad feeling that Jacob was dead, but at least Brett wouldn’t die here waiting for him. 

Thinking of cold damage made him think of Alice. Was Kara like Jacob? Did they get separated, leaving her too injured to meet up with Alice again? As soon as they got back to New Jericho, he’d call Hank to see if he had any new leads on Kara and Luther.  


* * *

  
Closing the door after him, Markus paused in the hallway. Brett was safely stowed away in Josh’s room, but where was Josh? 

Markus recalled him being at the naming ceremony. Other than that, they hadn’t seen each other all week. As he made his way down the hall, he detoured from the stairs to go to Simon’s room. It was always a good idea to check on him and Ralph. Markus knocked lightly and waited. The door opened and Simon leaned out. 

“Hello Markus,” the blond said. 

“Hey. How was your date?” Markus asked, casually pushing the door open to peek around for Ralph. “Does she know you’re an android yet?” 

“It went well,” Simon told him, ignoring the second question as he closed the door behind Markus. “Mandy’s nice.” 

There was no sign of Ralph in the room, but that probably just meant he was hiding again. His cargo cover cloak was still draped over the card table as a crooked table cloth, and there were several dozen more ‘rA9’ marks scratched into the wall in the corner. Great.

“We’ve got another date on Thursday,” Simon continued, crossing the room to sit under the window. 

“Early in the day I hope?” Markus peeked behind a bookshelf and finally gave up. “Just let me know when so I can watch Ralph.” 

“Or, you could let him be alone up here. It’s not like he’ll hurt anybody. He just wants to be safe.” 

“He’s safe here, I promise,” Markus told him, more for Ralph’s benefit if he was listening in on their conversation. “Have you seen Josh?” 

“No. I’ve been here since last night.”

There was a flicker of movement over by the table. The cloak tablecloth moved a bit; Markus realized Ralph was peeking out at them from underneath the card table. He made no move to come out and join the conversation, though, just looked at them.

“Alright. I’ll keep looking.” Markus carefully kept his gaze on Simon. There was no need to spook Ralph when he seemed to be in a calm mood. 

“Ask North,” Simon suggested as Markus stepped back out into the hallway. 

Before Markus could reach the front door to the house, Nigel stopped him. Connor was in the living room behind him, still on his phone. Hopefully Hank had some kind of lead on Kara and Luther. 

“Markus, how was your visit with Carl?” 

“Good. I miss him,” Markus told him honestly, brushing past him to reach the door. 

“Can we talk?” 

“I’m sorry, it’ll have to wait. The PC200 we brought in needs critical repairs.” 

It wasn’t actively snowing for once. Markus circled around his main house, headed toward the big garage they used for the morgue, and opened the door to step in. Most police androids had been destroyed as soon as the revolution started. It made sense that the humans wouldn’t want them around, and it had been easiest for the police to arrest the androids right beside them first. That meant that there were very few left now, though, and even fewer in the New Jericho morgue. 

“North?”

Past the rows of android bodies that they’d brought in to salvage, there were several long tables lined up with piles of biocomponents and body parts. A skinless AX700 with Simon’s features lay on the table, and North stood in front of him, elbows deep in blue blood while she dug around in the open torso. Gritting her teeth, she popped a biocomponent loose and lifted it out, placing it aside on the table. 

“Hello Markus,” she said, sighing and wiping blood on the front of the apron she wore over her clothes. North did a lot of the salvaging of the bodies, and it was a pretty common sight these days to see blood all over her. 

She stepped around the table, coming over to stand by Markus and offer him a wry smile. “You’ve got your nice clothes on, I see. Looks good on you.” She flipped her braid over her shoulder and added, “How was your visit?”

“Really great, and you’ll get to find out why in a few days. In the meantime, I need biocomponents for a PC200.” Markus pulled out the list he and Connor had come up with on the way home and sat it down on the table for North to read over. It was long. 

She leaned to read it, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. 

“That’s all for one PC200? Poor guy,” she commented, sitting up and going to the tables of parts. “We’ve only had two PC200s come here since the revolution, and one of them is alive. Theodore. He’s in E house,” she told Markus. There were 20 houses in the complex including Markus’, and they’d assigned them letters for easy reference. Markus’ was the exception — everybody called it the main house, rA9’s house, or Markus’ house. 

North sorted through several stacks of biocomponents, pulling out one here or there. She returned to Markus with a small armload of them, nodding at the list.

“I’ve got maybe a third of that. From the parts you listed, what he really needs the most is more blood. Maybe Theodore could share a little with him.” 

Sitting the biocomponents on the floor, she headed across the room and down one of the rows of bodies, kneeling to pop the leg off of one especially mangled one. He had no face and was missing an arm and half of his torso, but it must have been the other PC200. North brought the leg back to add to the pile and nodded. 

“This’s all I’ve got for now.” She held up a hand as Markus started to reach for the parts, adding, “Let me bag it up so you don’t get blood all over your nice clothes.”

“Uh, thanks.” Markus waited patiently, looking over the rows of bodies uneasily. 

Visiting the morgue was disturbing. It was a vivid reminder of who and how many of his people he had failed. He pushed the thoughts away and focused on the problem at hand: keeping those that were still living safe. Brett was lucky they had had any parts for him. Markus would have to swing by E and look for Theodore after dropping the biocomponents off at the main house. 

By the time Markus returned to the house with the bag of biocomponents, the last couple of police cars that had been around patrolling had left. He ducked inside and looked around for Connor. The ex-agent had been very helpful with Alice’s surgery, so he was Markus’ first choice for helping with the PC200 upstairs. 

The downstairs room was busier now. Androids were all knelt down in the living room, talking among themselves quietly. Markus stood and listened, catching the odd word here and there. It seemed like they were deciding on housing arrangements for some of the newcomers. As many houses as they had fenced off for the complex, it was getting to be crowded even with one or two people dying every week. 

Gloomy from the thought, Markus looked through the crowd in the living room for Connor and found Simon on his way back from the kitchen. It was a lot to ask him to babysit Ralph all of the time. Markus was grateful for Simon’s patient nature. Perhaps that came from the fact that the PL600 was originally designed to be able to take care of children. 

The blond paused and gave Markus a nod, heading past him back upstairs with a little green plastic bowl balanced on his hands. 

What was he up to? Perhaps it was something to keep Ralph busy. Markus looked around for Connor again. Brett needed help.

“…Not any trouble at all.” Connor’s voice made him glance off into the kitchen. Next Markus caught a glimpse of familiar dark hair and a gray peacoat. It looked like Connor had either been recruited or volunteered to help someone walk across the kitchen, because a female android was leaning against him as they stepped slowly toward the sink. Their backs were to the door, so Markus couldn’t tell who it was, though.

Tucking the bag of biocomponents under his jacket, Markus stepped inside to see if he could help too. The kitchen was pretty big. Too bad no one in the complex needed to eat. 

Well. Except Tal’s cat. 

“Is everything okay?” Markus asked as he hovered a hand near Connor’s back in case they needed more help. 

Glancing back at him quickly, Connor offered a smile. 

“It’s okay — she just wants to wash her hands, and her balance seems to need calibration,” he explained. The woman he was escorting was Angela, one of the new ST300s who had just arrived on the truck on Tuesday. She’d been in a haze then, and the few times Markus had seen her since she seemed to zone in and out. 

Right now she seemed perfectly functional, giving Connor a bright smile as she switched from leaning on him to leaning against the counter by the sink. When she turned around, Markus saw she had mud on her hands, a smudge on her cheek, and a big wet spot on the side of her shirt. She must have fallen down to get that muddy.

“Thanks.” 

Awkwardly, Connor nodded and shifted on his feet. 

“Will you be able to get back to the couch on your own?”

“I’ll flag somebody down,” Angela assured him. “Go, this might take a few minutes.” She turned and twisted one of the knobs on the sink, sighing.

Connor turned his attention to Markus, stepping away toward the kitchen door.

“Hank’s on his way to pick us up,” he whispered, frowning. "He said Kara and Luther are being held at the police station — their IDs say human, but his contact sent a picture, and it’s them!"

“What?” Markus asked sharply, hurrying back out into the living room. If the police had Kara, why hadn’t they taken Alice? Did Kara tell them about her? The police wouldn’t leave a supposed human little girl out in a snowstorm. “What about Alice? He can’t just leave her alone at his house.” 

Liam looked up from the couch where he was cuddled up with a big book, listening to the duo as they passed. 

Markus was already going over the list of things that he had to do before he could leave, like helping Brett. Maybe North could? She and Josh knew how to work on androids well enough to do it with their eyes closed by now. 

Pulling out the bag of biocomponents, Markus stopped at the bottom of the stairs with Connor. 

“I have to go get North to help Brett then. He needs help as soon as possible — I’ll be right back.”

Connor nodded quickly. 

“Is there anything I can do to help?” 

Markus handed him the bag and made a beeline for the door, calling back over his shoulder. 

“Bring those upstairs to Brett. I’ll be right back!”  


* * *

  
“Please?” Simon asked, leaning down to peer under the table again. His plan to clean Ralph up a bit wasn’t working; the WR600 refused to come out from under the table. Even Simon sitting on his knees on the floor seemed to make him too intimidating. 

Markus coming in to check on them all the time seemed like it might have put Ralph on edge. The leader of New Jericho hadn’t bothered to hide how concerned he was about leaving them alone together — even though it was his idea to begin with. 

Not that Simon minded. Ralph was a challenging person to befriend, but he seemed to genuinely want to connect with others. He was simply afraid. The burns on his body had also damaged his mind. 

“I just want to wash your face. How about that?” Simon offered, holding the wet rag out for Ralph to see. 

“Ralph doesn’t mind dirt,” was the prompt response. “Dirt’s good camouflage.” His mismatched eyes flicked down to the rag and he shifted a bit where he sat under the table. “Why do you want Ralph to be clean? Are you taking him somewhere? There’s nobody to see in here but Simon, and he never seemed to mind before.”

“I don’t know,” Simon said honestly, playing with the rag as he sat back. “I was worried that the dirt might get in your…wounds.” 

The wounds seemed to be old, so if there was any dirt in there, the damage had been done long ago. The truth was that Simon didn’t like seeing Ralph covered in dirt because it reminded him of all the dark, muddy places he had hidden before he found Jericho. 

Simon gave Ralph a smile and offered the rag to him. 

“Please? There’s no one that you have to hide from here.” 

Ralph looked at him for a moment, then plucked the rag out of his hand with a little twitch of his head. 

Suddenly he was all slightly flustered embarrassment as he told Simon, “Okay. Okay. Ralph’s sorry. He didn’t mean to be rude. It’s your room, so if you don’t want dirt in it, Ralph will try not to bring any more in.” He looked at the rag for a moment, then tried cautiously dabbing at his forehead on the side opposite the damage on his face. It left a noticeable clean spot. 

Frowning down at the smudge on the rag, the WR600 peeked out from under the table cloth at Simon again. 

“You aren’t used to dirt, but Ralph’s a gardener. Dirt’s his friend,” he said sheepishly, and went back to washing his face.

“I don’t mind dirt, as long as it’s not all over the place.” Simon waited on the floor, scooting the little bowl of cold water over for Ralph. It wasn’t like he was programmed to clean anymore, he just preferred to keep things tidy. Living in a giant broken-down house felt like they were still living sub-par to the humans. Was it greedy of androids to want to live in clean places when they could just as easily live in mud and mold?


	19. Missing

Coexistence with humans was a difficult thing to do when one actually tried. Josh wanted to wait for humans to accept androids, North wanted to force her way into society, and Markus was just trying to keep everyone from killing each other.

That left Simon with a lot of thinking to do. Spending time with Ralph was almost as nice as spending time with Mandy. Too bad the WR600 couldn’t help him understand how humans and androids might see eye to eye someday.

Simon leaned to look under the cargo shawl that Ralph had slung over the table and smiled to his new friend. 

“Can I help? It’s going to be hard to clean your face without a mirror.” 

Ralph looked around them uneasily, like a mirror might have appeared in the room since last time he looked. 

“Okay,” he said, and sat the rag in Simon’s hand. He crawled out from under the table, sitting carefully on the nearest of the stools. Folding his hands on his lap, he looked at Simon uneasily. “Ralph tried to take a bath once,” he said softly, like this was a harrowing thing to talk about.

Chuckling, Simon got up and started carefully cleaning the other android’s face. 

Was there any way to repair the damage to his face? It would probably take the machinery at the old CyberLife tower if anything. Even then, CyerLife would have probably just thrown Ralph into the recycling center instead of repairing him.

His hand faltered at making small circles around Ralph’s cheek as he imagined the poor gardener there. Those horrible centers should have been destroyed the moment all the androids were out of there.

“What happened?” Simon asked as he dabbed the rag below Ralph’s badly damaged eye, trying not to think about him being recycled for being the way he was. 

Ralph was doing the shifty-eyed thing he did when he was stressed. He settled for looking up at Simon after a moment of glancing rapidly around. 

“Ralph heard baths make you feel better. He wanted to feel better,” he explained, “So he tried it. He even put bubbles in it.” He fidgeted, glancing around again. “It was…too…HOT. It scared Ralph.” His voice dropped to a whisper as he added, “He thought he was burning again.”

Resting a hand on Ralph’s head to hold him still, Simon worked on cleaning his forehead. He paused to look down at the other blond.

“I’m sorry, Ralph,” he said softly. “I’m sorry that you got hurt and that you h-had to hide for so long, all alone. I don’t know what I would have done if I had been alone…probably something very bad.” 

Realizing that his comment probably wasn’t helping with Ralph’s upsetting memories, Simon turned and dipped the rag in the bowl, squeezing out the dirty water and returning to the task at hand. 

“I’m glad you’re here, though,” he added with a small smile.

Ralph looked up at him, brightening. 

“You are? Ralph’s glad, too,” he said quickly, reaching out a hand to pat Simon’s shoulder. It was a bit of an awkward pat, like maybe he wasn’t sure that was welcome. 

There was a little creak from the door. Before they could even glance that way, something dark and furry ran into the room and under the table. It was a cat, a very round one with black and white tuxedo markings. 

Ralph had leapt to his feet at first sight of the cat, both hands clutching the shoulders of Simon’s shirt like he intended to somehow drag the taller android away from the danger. He was standing stock still and watching for any sign of movement from the table now, utterly silent.

“It’s alright! It’s Tal’s cat. She’s not mean!” Simon hesitantly placed his hands on Ralph’s arms and gently stepped out of his grip. Dropping to his knees, Simon looked under the table. 

Tal had yet to name the animal because Markus had tried to insist that they take it to a shelter. They had no means of feeding it since they had no money for food. 

“Hello cat,” Simon told her nicely, reaching under the table and plucking her off the ground. She was very heavy for her size, so he lay her on top of his other arm as he got up, stroking her head. “Someone must have scared her.” Simon felt the pinch of claws in his arm as he gave Ralph an unsteady smile. “I’ll take her back to Tal, he’s probably worried about her.” 

Tal had let the cat run around on her own, but Simon was worried about having her near Ralph. The WR600 was jumpy and had told Simon a story about killing a large rodent to try and cook it. 

There were definitely better places for Tal’s cat to be.

Ralph looked at the cat warily, and the cat looked right back. 

“Ralph’s not scared,” he said, not very convincingly. Then he turned and headed straight across the room to sit in front of the window. Whatever calm mood Simon had managed to create had evaporated — being startled seemed to leave Ralph on-edge even with the reassurance, and he was twitchy and fidgety again.

Feeling very discouraged, Simon stepped out into the hallway with the cat and closed the door. Tal lived in the house next door, so it would take a couple of minutes to get there. As soon as he reached the bottom of the stairs, the cat stiffened in his arms, hissing off toward the living room. Simon held her tightly and rubbed her head, frowning at the big Saint Bernard piled on the couch. A familiar YK500 was nestled against his side, talking quietly with Niska and Anne. That had to be Alice, Kara’s daughter. 

The cat was way too worked up for Simon to get any closer, so he made his way outside and started across the big snowy yard between Markus’ place and House B. Tal wasn’t in the one story house, so Simon let the cat down and left, making sure to close the door behind him. Hopefully with a dog around, she’d stay home where she was safe. 

Half sneaking back across the living room and up the stairs, Simon shook his head as he went back to his room’s door. 

Why did he feel like he had to avoid people? It wasn’t like anyone talked to him about anything important. Poor Markus was bombarded with all the problems, and since his people looked to him for guidance, he took on most things himself. Simon stepped back inside and closed the door. 

“Okay. She’s back with Tal,” he explained, turning to find Ralph. 

The room appeared to be completely empty. Knowing Ralph, he was hiding somewhere. Simon noticed that the cargo cloak had been taken off of the table.

Simon made his round of the room, checking behind the bookcases along the wall and under the table anyway. 

“I think the rag is clean enough to wash your hair too,” he said with a smile, leaning to look behind a big bookshelf. “Ralph?” Simon stepped out into the middle of the room and looked around. He’d checked all of the places that were big enough for Ralph to fit in. Had he gone downstairs? 

Then Simon spotted the cracked open window. Slowly, he came over and poked his head outside. 

There was a light dusting of fresh snow out on the little balcony the window led to — and clear fresh footprints in that snow, along with a brushed off part where a cargo cover might have swiped the snow away. 

Before Simon could process that, he saw the androids at the front gate all in some commotion, looking off to one side of the fence. By the time one of them reached the spot, a familiar cloaked figure was already dashing away outside the fence. Ralph must have known where a weak spot or hole was to get through that fast.

Simon yanked his head back inside and considered his options. Running after Ralph might scare him, but at least he knew Simon more than the others. Sending random androids from around the complex to fetch him would be terrifying for poor Ralph. 

The blond turned and opening the window wider, hopping lightly out onto the balcony. The wind whipped icy air through his hair, and he had to duck under a row of icicles to start climbing down. He could have gone through the house, but it would have just slowed him down. Landing awkwardly on the snow, Simon’s foot sunk much deeper than he thought it would, and he stumbled. Brushing off handfuls of snow, he took off toward the entrance to New Jericho. 

“Open the gate!” 

Ken, the TW400 Markus had made gatekeeper, wasted no time with questions — he and the other androids scrambled to pull the gate aside. By the time Simon reached it, it was open enough for him to dash through. Ralph was out of sight by now, but there was a fresh trail of footprints leading the way he’d gone. 

Why had he gone? Had the cat startled him that badly? He’d planned this for awhile if he knew the weak point in the fence, though… The more important question was, where was he going? He’d said himself he had no idea where his old house was in relation to New Jericho.

Charging down the icy street wasn’t the best idea. Simon slipped a couple of times before he made it safely to the other side where the footprints led between two old buildings. A car zoomed by behind him and Simon ignored it, following the footprints through the alley. He walked for about five minutes, but when he glanced back he could still see the fence of New Jericho — he could even see his window in the distance. Thankfully, it was just after one in the afternoon. He had plenty of time to look for Ralph in the light of day. 

The footprints stopped in front of a tall chain-link fence halfway down an alley. Simon stared up at it, then down at the trail of footprints beyond. It led to a back road with little shops along it. A cafe, a salon, and a flower shop were all in view. Ralph must have climbed right over.

As Simon started climbing up the fence, he heard the crunch of snow behind him — someone approaching fast. Before he could turn to see if it was Ralph, strong arms clutched around his stomach, fingers skillfully digging into his torso to grip his thirium pump, twisting it free. Simon barely managed to make a grab at the hands before his vision flickered. 

The arms let him go and Simon slid down to his knees in the snow, his hands on the fence in front of him. 

_BIOCOMPONENT #1009d MISSING. 1:45 time remaining until shutdown._   


* * *

  
Two days. It had been two days now since Kara and Luther had been arrested by the police. The little family had been walking alongside the road, the taxi having dropped them off a few minutes away from Markus’ address, when they were set upon by armed and shouting police. Luther had been sitting Alice down on the ground, and was a few feet behind Kara — seeing guns, he’d pushed the little girl into the snow, which hid her from their notice.

They hadn’t been much interested in talking — the minute the cops saw that their IDs said human, they’d arrested Kara and Luther and hauled them to the police station. Kara hadn’t seen Luther since they arrived. Apparently the police thought they were involved in some android hate crimes that had been happening around New Jericho lately. 

Humans sneaking around in the small hours of the morning DID look suspicious, but Kara was furious that the police hadn’t let them go by now. They had no proof that they were involved in any crimes, except the very suspicious-looking fact that they appeared to be humans and Canadians — e.g. anti-android sorts of people who had just entered the country and headed straight for New Jericho.

Kara didn’t care what they thought of her or Canada — she cared that Alice had been left alone outside in the weather for days. The little girl was too smart to just stay there and freeze, but she was all alone, and hardly functioning. It was hard to believe she would have been able to walk the rest of the way to New Jericho in her condition, especially since one leg was having trouble. 

Kara had tried explaining that her daughter was left, and begged the cops to go look for her. She’d tried being angry and shouting at them. She’d tried just about everything but explaining that her sick child was actually a damaged android, because she was pretty sure some of the police still hated androids and wouldn’t hesitate to make her and Luther “disappear” if they knew what they really were. Appearing human gave them rights, the same way it did in Canada. Androids were citizens in name only here in the States.

Now, two days later, Kara was beginning to get desperate. She was afraid to put out a WiFi call to any nearby androids, or the police would realize where it was coming from. Wherever they were holding Luther, she was sure he felt the same. The police station’s holding cells were clear on the front and opaque on the sides, and by now she’d gotten numb to people walking by and gawking at her. Did any of them suspect she was an android? Did they recognize her face as an AX400? It was impossible to tell.

Alice had to be okay somewhere. Kara had to believe that she’d been found by Markus, or by someone, and was still okay. If she wasn’t Kara wasn’t sure what she would do, but it wouldn’t be anything good.

A group of people came around the corner of the holding cells from the main department, the officer in the front talking to the others.

“—Suspicious internet searches, too. Mostly your home address and directions there.” 

Right behind him, looking very angry, was Markus himself. The deviant leader was dressed in a nice long coal gray coat, black pants, and sturdy looking boots that were covered in snow. The moment his eyes found Kara, his expression softened. 

“Kara. Are you alright?” Markus asked, stepping up and placing his hands on the glass — his blue-stained hands. 

“You know her?” The cop asked, dumbfounded. 

Leaping to her feet, Kara ran to the glass wall and pressed her hands close like she could reach him through it. She’d had her doubts before, but right now Markus truly did seem to be rA9 — a savior in a hopeless situation.

“Markus!” She had no idea how he was there, how he’d found her…whose blood that was on his hands. Had he found Alice? She could hardly dare to hope. Alice hadn’t known where they were being taken, but she must have seen that the police were the ones who took them. Please, Kara prayed, let Alice be safe and okay.

“Wait, if you know her—” The officer started, but Markus cut him off. 

“Let her out. She’s a friend.” 

“Are you—” 

“NOW,” Markus snapped. The sudden change in volume made a couple of cops glance their way. 

“We were protecting your ass. Watch it, you plastic—” Casting a glance over his shoulder and seemingly realizing that Hank was standing there, the officer cleared his throat. “Uh, sir. we need you to sign some documents, then she’s free to go. I’ll go get the tablet.” He turned on his heel and hurried off. 

Connor’s old partner grumbled loudly under his breath. 

“Little shit.” 

Kara glanced quickly between them, the shock of seeing Markus there starting to wear off.

“Alice,” she said, voice wavering. She couldn’t help it — nobody had said anything, the chances that Alice was okay were getting slimmer and slimmer. “A-Alice was left behind when they arrested us. She’s very sick, she’s all alone — you’ve got to go find her! We were by the road, your front gate was in sight in the distance. It’s been days since then!” 

Connor stepped into sight from one side, looking into the cell along with Hank and Markus. He ducked back out of sight just as fast. Kara would process that later.

“We found her. She’s staying with me. Well, she was. Now she’s at HIS place,” Hank explained, jerking a thumb at Markus. 

“She’s safe, I promise. Where’s Luther?” Markus asked, still leaned on the glass. 

Kara was so relieved to hear about Alice that she almost didn’t hear the question. Blinking back tears, she shook her head.

“They separated us, I-I don’t know.”

“He’s here.” Connor stepped into view from the side again, pointing back the way he’d come. He shot Kara a sad look and placed a hand on the glass beside Markus’. “We’re taking you both with us.”

“They wouldn’t believe what I told them.” Kara turned back to Markus, still tearful but now trying to hold back her anger as well. “Alice needs your help, that’s the whole reason we’re back in Detroit. I couldn’t explain that to them, or…” She shook her head. If the police found out they were androids, their Canadian IDs would be revealed to be fakes. They wouldn’t be able to go home.

“Or what?” Markus questioned with a frown. 

The police officer from before returned with a tablet in hand, carefully stepping around Hank. 

“Alright, I’ll need your serial number and your signature, then she’s free to go. Her boyfriend, too.” The man offered Markus the tablet. 

Markus wasted no time filling it out and signing, dropping it back into the man’s hands the moment he opened the door to Kara’s cell. 

Kara quickly stepped out, so quickly she almost ran into Connor, who was standing to the side still. The RK800 stuck both hands out and caught her by the shoulders to steady her.

Kara looked up at him and he shot a sympathetic look back, letting go of her. She immediately hurried down the row of cells to hug Luther, who had just stepped out into the hallway as well. It was a relief to see that he was unharmed, the same as her.

“They found Alice! They said she’s safe, and they’re taking us to her!”

Luther’s face glowed with a big smile and he caught her in a hug, lifting her feet a couple inches off the ground. 

“I’ve never heard something so wonderful in my life. We should get going.” 

“You actually had a daughter?” The cop asked from behind them, snorting. “Wow.” 

Kara whirled around to face him, and it took all of her willpower not to take a swing at the smirk on his face. How dare he? She’d known that androids weren’t treated well still, but this man thought Alice was human — he was just that awful and didn’t care about a child suffering either way.

“She’d be dead if not for our friends — and that would be on YOUR hands,” Kara snapped, pointing at him. “You had no right to hold us like this!”


	20. Justice

Hands grabbed Kara’s shoulders as Markus guided her away from the smirking cop.

“Come on. He’s not worth it.” 

“What the fuck would you know about worth?” The officer grumbled, crossing his arms. “Maybe next time you better just stay inside your little complex, or—” 

Before the officer could finish his sentence, he was on his back on the floor, clutching his freshly bleeding nose and howling in pain. 

“Maybe next time you’ll keep your mouth shut.” Hank shook his fist, turning and stepping past the group casually. 

“Fuck you, Hank! I hope your dog gets hit by a fucking semi!” The man spat from the floor. 

Markus practically jumped from Kara’s side to stop Hank as the old man came charging back around the corner from the main room. 

“NO! No, we have to go. Please Hank,” Markus told him quickly, lowering his voice and adding, “Pushing back will make it much worse for us. Let’s go. It’s fine.”

Kara gave the cop on the floor one last furious glare before stepping over quickly to walk beside Hank opposite Markus. 

“Thank you,” she told him quietly, frowning ahead as they walked. She could hear footsteps behind them, Connor and Luther no doubt. Hiding the fact that they were androids had been a smart call, from the sound of it. 

“No problem,” Hank told her, tucking his hands in his jacket pockets as they stepped back out into the weather. “He had that and a whole lot more comin’.” 

“Hank, I’m grateful for your support for our cause,” Markus told the old man, scowling, “But PLEASE don’t punch anyone else.” 

“Hey, that’s on him. He hates androids AND dogs!” Hank grumbled, climbing into his car. 

Markus huffed out a sigh and followed him. 

“He didn’t know Alice is an android,” Kara sighed, getting into the middle seat in the back. “Our passports say we’re human, and I thought if they knew Luther and I were androids, they might hurt us. We need these Canadian passports to get back home.” She’d been carrying Alice’s passport in her wallet — the police HAD to have seen it when they went through her things for her own ID. They just plain didn’t care.

It was a tight fit in the back seat with Connor on one side and Luther on the other, but they managed to all get into the car. The facts were still sinking in — that Markus had actually found Alice, saved her, and then came after them to free them. However unjust the States still were toward androids, Markus was the genuinely good person everyone said he was.

Hank started the car and pulled away from the station, going slowly off down the icy road. 

The deviant leader was staring out the window, his reflection showing the sad frown that he wore. He turned in his seat to check on the others. 

“We had to replace Alice’s thirium pump. It was the only part we could find in our supplies. Her thermal sensor isn’t working—” 

“Put your seat belts on,” Hank suddenly said, glancing in the rear view mirror at Connor in particular. “The road’s still slick.” 

Kara had strapped her seatbelt since she got in first; now, she found she had to help Connor and Luther reach the other sides of theirs to click them into place. Connor looked sheepish about it, and couldn’t make his seatbelt pull over far enough to hand Kara the end until he pulled his cellphone out of his pocket.

As she fastened the belt end into place, Kara noticed him looking at the phone screen with a frown. It said there was a missed call, and a new voicemail.

“Markus, I think Simon called while we were in the station,” Connor mused, punching the button for speakerphone. He hit play on the voicemail. 

Kara remembered meeting Simon when she and Alice and Luther briefly stayed in Jericho. The voice on the other end was not his, but it was familiar. It was North, she realized, one of the other Jericho leaders. The message was short, sharp, and quietly furious.

“Markus, you need to get back here. We caught the killer — it’s Ralph. He attacked Simon, and the marks look just like all of the others. I have to go help them with Simon. Get home quick.” 

The message ended to stunned silence from everyone in the car. Kara was disturbed to hear such a thing. Was it the same Ralph who helped her and Alice hide from the police? He’d been pretty unstable, but he’d also risked himself to let them get away. This sounded like the handiwork of a serial murderer…

“Ralph?” Markus asked sadly. “He wouldn’t hurt Simon…” 

“Are you sure? That guy was pretty messed up,” Connor’s ex-partner said. 

“Just drive,” Markus said, waving a hand. 

“What did you think I was doing?” Hank asked incredulously. 

“If he really is the killer, the others might hurt him before we get there. I need to deal with him personally and make sure justice is done first. North must have evidence if she thinks he did it.”

“Excuse me,” Kara said, leaning forward in her seat. “Is Ralph a WR600, one with a scarred face?” It wasn’t that unusual of a name, but the way they were talking about him being ‘messed up’…her heart was sinking. She hadn’t felt very safe while actually talking to Ralph, but the way he’d grabbed Connor to buy time for her and Alice to run had been really brave. He’d seemed good, deep down.

“Yes, it’s the same Ralph we both met,” Connor confirmed from beside her, looking at his phone sadly.

Kara sat back, sighing. She really hoped Alice hadn’t seen any of these horrible things happening.  


* * *

  
Markus couldn’t speak as he followed the long trail of blue-stained snow that led up to the house. 

North had said Simon was hurt and that Ralph was to blame, but this much blood meant that Simon was probably dead. Half stumbling up the steps to the front door, Markus gripped the handle and yanked it open. 

There was a crowd of androids gathered there, all whispering softly among themselves. They jumped when the door popped open, many turning to see who it was. 

“Markus!”

“RA9!” 

The cries were both relieved and pleading. They thought he was here to fix it all. There was even more blue blood in a drippy, messy trail through the front walkway and into the living room. It was recent, so recent the trail was still wet. Simon had to be that way…or his body was.

“Where’s Simon? Where’s North?” Markus asked, hurrying to follow the trail. It veered off from the living room down the short hallway and up the stairs, so he hurried up the steps, calling. “North?” 

Hopefully Connor and Hank would help Kara find Alice. 

“Markus!” North poked her head out of her room down the hallway, waving him over. Her hands were stained blue, and she seemed more grim than relieved to see him. “In here.”

Markus heard hurried footsteps on the stairs behind him. 

“I can scan for evidence,” Connor insisted, sticking close by his side.

Markus didn’t reply to him, but he was grateful for Connor’s help. Stepping into the room with North, he braced himself for the worst. 

“Where’s Simon?” 

North turned to look back into the room. Simon was laid out on the floor, his bloodied shirt tossed aside. There were two stab marks in his chest near the thirium pump, just like the vampire’s other victims. He was very still, eyes closed, but Liam sitting nearby with a bloody arm was a good sign he was alive enough to give blood to.

“He’s alive. Barely,” North said quietly, turning back to Markus. Anger glinted in her eyes. “Ralph lured him outside — the gate guards saw it.”

Connor glanced at Markus and silently stepped over to scan Simon.

Markus followed after him, dropping to his knees and taking Simon’s hand in his. Seeing the blond laying still brought back a wave of guilt. So many androids had given their lives for freedom only for the people they fought so hard to save to be murdered. 

Simon had always opted for the safer route. He cared about everyone’s safety…except his own. There was no doubt in Markus’ mind that Simon would have died to keep him safe. 

If Ralph had done this, Markus wasn’t sure he’d be able to keep a level head. Especially not if Simon died. It was a miracle that he made it through the revolution with so little blood on his hands. Simon had been a voice of reason in his ear when he needed it. 

Markus squeezed his friend’s fingers, anger washing away with sadness. This was his fault. Markus had made the choice to let Simon watch Ralph. The blond had immediately taken a liking to the unstable WR600 and trusted him. 

Lifting his head, Markus looked up at Connor through misty eyes. 

“What does the scan show?” He asked quietly. 

Connor sank down to kneel beside Simon, lifting his other hand gently and examining his palm. He placed the hand carefully down beside him again after a moment, frowning.

“I hate to say it, but it’s definitely the same handiwork as the others — the same weapon, the same sort of attack,” he admitted. “He’s lost a lot of blood, though obviously not all of it.” He placed a palm over Simon’s heart and lifted it again, nodding. “The attacker disabled him by pulling out his heart. They dug right into him to do it, the same as the PJ500 we found before.” Unlike that victim, though, somebody must have put Simon’s heart back in. 

Standing, Connor added sadly, “There aren’t any defensive wounds. Simon didn’t fight back.”

“Because he trusts Ralph,” North said flatly from the door.

Four people were dead and Simon was knocking on death’s door. Even if he woke up, it wouldn’t save the others. 

Markus lay Simon’s hand gently at his side and got to his feet. Simon would want Markus to give mercy before justice, but his mercy could only stretch so far. 

“Where’s Ralph?”  


* * *

  
The last person Kara expected to see when she opened the door was Jerry. Not just one, either — dozens, every Jerry except what she had thought was the last one. That one had died at the border to help her and her family. 

“It’s Kara! Alice, Kara is here!” The ginger-haired androids all cheered, the ones by the door stepping back to clear the way for her. Kara was stunned to see the Jerrys here alive and well, but questions could wait — she dashed into the room past them, spotting a familiar brunette little girl cuddled up with an enormous Saint Bernard in the corner.

“Alice!” Kara was so happy she could have cried. She had no idea whose dog it was, but he seemed pretty tame — he had a plastic cone around his neck, and Alice had been petting his ears nicely under it. 

“Mom!” Alice cried, reaching for Kara. She didn’t move from the couch though, her legs laying limply by the dog as she stretched her arms out. The Saint Bernard’s head lifted up and it turned its head enough to see Kara around the cone, woofing in alarm. 

“Whoa, easy boy!” Hank told the dog, crossing the room and patting it on the head. “It’s okay Sumo. She’s a friend.”

Kara stepped closer, holding her hands out for the giant dog to sniff at. 

“Easy. It’s okay, see?” She eased her way past Sumo to sit on the floor, pulling Alice into her arms and hugging her tight. Several tears escaped down her cheeks, but she was laughing her way through them. “Alice, I’m so glad to see you!”

She could hear the Jerrys cheering around them. It felt surreal to go from the cold holding cell to this.

Alice was sobbing against her shirt as Luther wrapped them both in a big hug. 

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” the big android said, the smile clear in his voice. 

Sumo the dog leaned off the couch and sniffed at Alice’s head, whining and licking her hair with a slobbery tongue. 

“Here,” Hank put his jacket around Kara’s arms to cover Alice up. “She can’t seem to warm up. Better be careful.” 

“Thank you.” Kara gave him a grateful look as she wrapped an arm around the coat, hugging it and Alice and pulling the little girl onto her lap. “Markus will help, I’m sure he will. We’ll be okay as long as we’re together.”

“When we saw her without you, we were very worried,” one of the Jerrys said from nearby, leaning to pat Alice’s back gently. “But we knew you’d find her. Her family loves her very much.”

Kara smiled tearfully at him and nodded, resting her cheek against Luther’s shoulder.

“She’s missed you, Jerry. We thought we lost you at the border,” she said, glancing between the many identical smiling faces in the room. Hank and his dog stood out like sore thumbs. 

“The rest of us were caught and sent to the recycling center,” the nearest Jerry said. He was wearing a baseball cap. 

Another nearby, the frost-damaged one she remembered vividly, smiled and added, “They separated us, too. We remember heading for the border, but that one of us was out of range after awhile.”

“You were very brave,” Kara told him. The Jerrys all smiled warmly at that.

“So, the police didn’t know you were androids. That was probably a good call, but why didn’t you tell them?” Hank asked as he took a seat on the couch with Sumo, rubbing his dog’s side absently.

The Jerrys all followed suit, sitting down in a big group that took up most of the rest of the room. The nearest was close enough to pet the dog’s back, still smiling as much as ever.

Kara smoothed Alice’s hair gently, looking over at Hank. 

“We’re still forbidden in Canada, and if they found out what we were they would’ve taken away our Canadian passports,” she explained. “That, and…you saw how they treated Markus even when he wasn’t in a cell. I was sure they’d be less likely to hurt us if they thought we were human. Fortunately for us, we came up with a story for why we’re in the States and could separately tell them that during questioning.” 

She exchanged a look with Luther, nodding.

Luther nodded in return, turning to Hank. 

“Thank you for watching over our Alice. When we thought we lost her…” He shook his head. “I have never been so scared before.” 

“Happy to help,” Hank told them, blue eyes distant as if looking at memories rather than the trio from Canada. A moment later, he focused at Kara again. “So you wanna go back to Canada? Why not stay here? At least here you have SOME rights.” 

The government had selected some of Markus’ requested rights, but they were still mulling over the others. Perhaps forever.

Kara looked at the Jerrys around them, then down at Alice. She sighed.

“The government says we’re people now, but I wouldn’t call this having rights. In Canada, I have a job. We live normally — Alice can play at the park, or go to the library, without being afraid. Nobody in Canada recognizes our faces. We don’t want to fight about our rights, we just want to live.”

“You’ve got a job. Hm.” Hank nodded and kept petting Sumo, lost in thought all over again. 

“Mom,” Alice said sleepily up at Kara. “Ralph’s here. I saw him run outside the fence.” 

Kara wondered uneasily if that was before or after North had sent that message about him. 

“I know he is,” she said, hugging Alice a little closer. “Don’t worry about him, okay? There are lots of people staying here with Markus, and we’ll probably see some other familiar people too. Like Jerry.” She smiled over at the ginger androids, who all had brightened and smiled at mention of their name. 

“I…I don’t think Ralph’s okay,” Alice said sadly, leaning her head on Kara’s shoulder and hugging her tighter. “When he came back, he was covered in blood and everyone was really mad at him. Can you check on him?” Big brown eyes stared up at her, blinking hazily. 

“Blood?” Kara patted her cheek. “I heard someone got hurt,” she admitted. “Markus and Connor are going to go check on them, and on Ralph too. I’m sure everything will be okay — this is the safest place for androids to be.”

Inwardly, she had to wonder if the voicemail message about Ralph had any truth to it. The damaged WR600 was unstable, but he hadn’t seemed malicious. He had admitted that he lost his head sometimes, though, and did things in anger that he otherwise wouldn’t…

Markus would find out the truth, she was sure of it. If anybody could deal with this situation fairly, it was rA9 himself.  


* * *

  
Markus was silent and grim as they left North’s room and headed for the one with Ralph — Simon’s room, ironically. Connor stuck close by Markus’ side, assuring him they would piece together the truth after he got to scan all of the evidence.

When Connor had seen Ralph earlier, the WR600 had been downright protective of Simon. Attacking him now made no sense…unless he was trying to prove how dangerous it was outside of the compound so that Simon stayed home. That was a disturbing thought.

They could hear the shouting through the door before Markus opened it. As he did, Connor saw Ralph across the room, tied tightly to a chair and struggling against the cabling North had used as rope. His cargo cloak was missing, and the entire front of his WR600 uniform was soaked in blue blood. There were flecks of it in his ruffled blond hair, little splashes on his cheek, and the left shoulder of his uniform had been ripped and hung to reveal battered scuffed skin like the backs of his hands. Connor could see the joints through it.

“COME BACK! You’re WRONG!” Ralph shouted, presumably at North. When he saw Markus and Connor in the doorway he froze and stared at them.

Markus turned back long enough to shut the door, slipping the little metal lock in place. His expression was difficult to read, but the way he kept balling his blue-stained fists hinted that maybe he had had enough of Ralph’s yelling. The deviant leader crossed the room in a few strides and stood a couple of feet in front of Ralph. 

“What did you do to Simon?”


	21. Flowers

“Simon! Is — is Simon okay? Did he live?” Ralph’s voice sounded about as twitchy as the rest of him. He fidgeted around in the cable ties, making his chair rock a bit on its legs. “North wouldn’t say. Ralph put his heart back, so…s-so he shouldn’t die, right?”

Connor stepped over to stand near Markus’ side, scanning over the WR600 quickly for any evidence besides the obvious blood everywhere.

“Put it BACK?” Markus practically growled, stepping in even closer to loom over Ralph. “What happened? Did he say something nice about humans? Did you see him with his girlfriend? Did it make you mad, Ralph? Simon’s dying because of YOU!” Markus shoved the WR600’s shoulder hard enough that the chair’s front legs bounced off of the floor for a second. 

“NO! Nonono, don’t — you’re wrong, it’s not — Ralph didn’t — bad bad bad—” Ralph shrank down in his chair, babbling what seemed like several sentences at once. “Simon’s dying…Simon’s DYING… It’s Ralph’s fault. He didn’t want this, he didn’t, he didn’t…”

Connor tilted his head, getting a better scan on a smudge of something on the WR600’s hands. He hadn’t noticed until the chair shifted since they were tied down to the sides of it. It was a smudge of…pollen?

“What did you expect would happen when you pulled his HEART out? Why? Simon would never hurt you — never. Why the hell would you hurt him?” The anger in Markus’ voice gave way to pain. As angry as he seemed to be, he apparently was more concerned with his friend than getting even. 

“Ralph didn’t! He didn’t!” Ralph shook his head back and forth, wriggling around and setting the chair rocking a bit. “He just wanted flowers! Simon followed, so — a-and then — stabbed, Ralph stabbed him, after he stabbed Simon — Ralph tried to help,” he insisted. “PLEASE let him see Simon, please! Simon can’t die. He can’t…” He trailed off, looking at the door with dread. 

“Markus,” Connor said softly, touching his shoulder. 

The deviant’s head whipped around to look at him and Connor saw tears on his freckled cheeks.

“What?” He asked sharply.

Connor kept the hand on his shoulder, nodding at Ralph but still looking at Markus. 

“He mentioned flowers, and I scanned him. There’s pollen on his hands. Sunflowers.” He looked at Ralph, who looked back almost desperately.

“Yes! S-Simon’s flowers,” he said, glancing at the door again. “Ralph wanted to surprise him, he meant no harm — he meant no harm,” he repeated, looking at Markus now. “When they hurt Simon, Ralph — he dropped the flowers, Simon mattered more. They’re in the snow.” 

“Who hurt Simon? Was it a human? An android?” Markus asked, drying his face with the sleeve of his coat and squaring off his shoulders.

Ralph flinched when he raised his hand up to use the sleeve, turning his face away. 

“Ralph didn’t see! He — he can’t see very well! It looked like shadows!”

Connor frowned, scanning him over again for any traces of human blood. There were none, just huge amounts of Simon’s blood and traces of the pollen.

“Ralph had no knife, so h-he pulled it out of Simon and — and stabbed them with it,” Ralph added, twitching his head as he glanced between them and the door again anxiously. “Simon… Ralph needs to see him…”

Markus stood still and stared Ralph down. Then he glanced Connor’s way, whispering to him. 

“What do you think, Connor? What did your scan show other than pollen?”

Connor glanced at him, then back at Ralph. The WR600 was looking at the door again, mumbling about Simon under his breath. He looked halfway between angry and anguished.

“He said he grabbed a weapon and stabbed someone with it,” he told Markus softly back. “I took samples from the stab wounds before — maybe the same traces are on his hands.” It was a long shot; a lot of blood had been on Ralph’s hands since then, from the looks of them.

“Do you need me to untie him or can you scan him like this?” Markus asked with a gesture toward Ralph. He looked at the blood spattered android and frowned. “Maybe we should scan him later,” he added in a whisper. “If he didn’t do it and Simon dies without saying goodbye…”

Connor stepped over to Ralph and grabbed one of his hands. The other android flinched at the motion, but couldn’t really move his hand away as Connor swiped a finger across one of his palms. The RK800 retreated back to stand with Markus, licking his fingertips. Behind him, Ralph was muttering about humans and blood and — of course — Simon.

The sample definitely wasn’t just Simon’s blood, Connor realized, frowning thoughtfully. “He’s touched something metal,” he confirmed. “There are traces of rust and galvanized steel. And more sunflower residue.” 

He glanced at Ralph. If the WR600 was to be believed, there was somebody else involved in the attack. On the other hand, Ralph had demonstrated that he was pretty good at inventing lies on the go the day Connor had met him, even under extreme stress.

“It’s your call whether he can see Simon. Either way, we have a huge trail of blood to follow to the crime scene,” Connor said softly. “I can examine the evidence there as well, if you like.”

“We’ll have to do that later,” Markus told him, heading over to kneel behind Ralph’s chair and untie him. “Ralph, I’m taking you to see Simon. Don’t touch him. Am I clear?”

“Ralph understands,” the other android said promptly. He said nothing more, and held very still as Markus untied him. Seeing that the window in the room was open, Connor went over and closed it. 

Taking Ralph by the arm, Markus led him along to the door and unlocked it. 

“I’m serious. He’s hurt very badly. Don’t touch him,” Markus repeated as they stepped out into the hallway.

Connor trailed after them, scanning the back of Ralph’s clothes quickly. There was blood on his shoulders, possibly from draping Simon’s arm there. 

“Ralph knows he’s hurt! Ralph was there,” the blond told Markus. “H-he just needs to see Simon. Just to see him.”

Markus walked them straight into North’s room, keeping a good grip on Ralph’s arm — which he dropped the moment he was through the door. 

“Simon!” Markus said, hurrying to drop to his knees on the floor by the damaged blond. Simon smiled softly at seeing him, his LED glowing red. 

“Markus. Hey.” 

Connor thought he might have to keep Ralph from bolting, but the WR600 dashed into the room as well, kneeling on the other side of Simon. He hovered his hands near the other blond’s, but seemed afraid to actually touch him after all of the warnings not to. 

“Simon,” he said, tearing up. “S-Simon. This’s Ralph’s fault.”

“Ralph,” Simon said, his smile brightening as he slowly held a hand up toward the other blond. “It’s n-not your fault. I’m so glad you’re safe.” 

“Simon, who attacked you? Who did this?” Markus interrupted, taking the hand that Simon had held out to Ralph. 

“I…don’t remember. I’m sorry. I’m having trouble thinking.” 

“You’ve bled a lot,” Markus told him reluctantly. 

Connor stepped inside, closing the door behind him before he came over to stand near Markus. Simon looked weak, and the red LED wasn’t at all reassuring.

Ralph folded his hands on his lap, his focus moving from Simon’s stomach to the bloody shirt discarded on the floor nearby and back to Simon’s face. He glanced at Markus a few times, fidgeting, before shooting a hand out to grab Simon’s free one, squeezing it tight.

Markus frowned at him before continuing his conversation with Simon. 

“Liam gave you some of his blood, but you shouldn’t move or stand until we can get more. The person who attacked you was the same one that got the others. If what Ralph said is true, you’re very lucky he was there.” 

Simon rolled his head to look up at Ralph, smiling again. 

“My memory’s a bit of a mess, but I remember…sunflowers in the snow. Was t-that…” Simon trailed off, blinking rapidly.

“Simon?” Ralph gripped his hand tighter, his own LED flickering between yellow and red. “Don’t…don’t…” He started shaking his head.

Connor knelt quickly beside Markus, scanning over Simon for a system status. It wasn’t looking good for him.

Simon’s eyes opened again and he nodded. 

“I won’t move.” 

Markus leaned down and gave the blond a quick hug before climbing to his feet. 

“I’ll get some blue blood. I don’t know how or where, but I’ll find some. Ralph?” Markus waved for the WR600 to stand. 

Ralph jumped slightly at the hand wave, clinging to Simon’s hand. He looked up at Markus with pleading eyes. 

“Let Ralph stay with Simon. Please. Please, Markus. Ralph’s stupid, and he led Simon outside, but he didn’t hurt him, he didn’t…” He looked at Simon, welling up in tears again. “I didn’t.”

“I know,” Simon said with a tired smile up at Ralph. 

“Alright. You can stay, but only with other people here with you. Connor, can you go downstairs and get Ian and Nigel to come up here?” Markus slipped his coat off and lay it over Simon, tucking it in around him.

“Of course,” Connor said, nodding. He was a bit surprised Markus had agreed to let Ralph stay, but having Simon vouch for him probably helped. Connor quickly went downstairs to get the named androids. He remembered Nigel, the one who’d called him a traitor earlier, but Ian he wasn’t entirely familiar with. 

The living room was still crowded with whispering, anxious-looking people.

“Markus needs Ian and Nigel to come upstairs,” Connor announced to the room at large. “Please,” he added diplomatically.

“Is Simon alright?” A LM100 stepped into view, looking very nervous. 

“Where’s the killer?” A JB100 asked in horror, glancing up at the stairs with wide brown eyes. 

Nigel came out of the kitchen at the far end of the room, weaving his way quickly through the crowd to Connor’s side. 

“Save your questions,” he told the others before turning to Connor. “Lead the way.” 

Another uneasy-looking JB100 stepped out of the crowd, nodding at Connor and falling into step behind him and Nigel. That must be Ian, Connor concluded, starting back up the stairs. 

A commotion from the front door made him turn, though. The crowd had parted for North, who was stepping toward the stairs with two canisters of blue blood hugged to her sides. FULL canisters, too. They looked brand new and still sealed from CyberLife. Sighting Connor, she frowned. 

“How is he?”

“Awake,” Connor replied shortly, waving her along as well. The small crowd returned to the bedroom, Connor opening the door and stepping inside first. “Markus, North found some more thirium.”

North took two steps into the room, sighted Ralph, and froze. 

Markus rushed over to take one of the canisters from North.

“Hurry, he’s having trouble staying awake.”

North stepped after him quickly to help, but she kept looking at Ralph, eyes narrowed. 

Connor moved over and scanned Simon again, noting how low his power levels were. He really ought to have been in low-power mode to conserve his energy.

Ralph seemed uneasy to have North anywhere near him, but he stubbornly clung to Simon’s hand rather than get further away from her.

Simon glanced around at all the new faces as Markus settled in by his side again, slipping a hand under the blond’s shoulder. 

“Sit up,” he said gently, trying to lift Simon to a sitting position. Simon’s LED immediately started blinking red.

Ralph quickly hugged around his waist with one arm and helped support him. North knelt right beside him and held one of the blue blood canisters to Simon’s lips. Ralph frowned and stuck very close to Simon’s side.

Connor thought he should explain the situation to Ian and Nigel, but he was waiting to see if Simon could drink any of the thirium. They’d probably take any orders better from Markus directly anyway.

Simon managed to drink the first gulp of thirium, then it came pouring out of the sides of his mouth. Readjusting his grip, Markus steadied his friend’s head so he could drink again. 

Connor noticed that Simon had never let go of Ralph’s hand. Simon managed to clumsily finish the canister, then he shook his head. 

“I need to lay down please.” 

North shared a glance with Markus, nodding. 

“You’ll need to drink the other soon, but it’s better not to use any more energy than you have to,” she told Simon, stepping back with the empty and full blue blood canisters in hand.

Ralph helped Markus lay Simon back down, completely silent in the process. His LED was still flickering between yellow and red. He kept a tight hold on Simon’s hand, but dabbed the blue off of his mouth with his free hand.

The LED on Simon’s temple faded from red to yellow as he rolled onto his side, still holding onto Ralph’s hand and closing his eyes. 

“I’ll drink it later.” 

Markus rearranged the coat back over Simon and sat cross-legged on the floor again. He glanced up at Ian and Nigel apologetically. 

“I’m sorry, it was a false alarm. You can go back downstairs.” 

Ian left right away, but Nigel lingered by the door. 

“Are you sure, Markus? I don’t mind staying.” 

“No, we’ll be alright. Thank you, Nigel,” Markus told him. Nigel nodded and stepped back out of the room. After another long moment of frowning at Ralph, North finally retreated out the door as well, handing the remaining thirium canister to Connor on her way out.

“Were you really getting me f-flowers?” Connor heard Simon ask softly. 

“Yes. Ralph saw the shop out the window. He used to put flowers in shops…before. You put money in, and the machine gives you flowers, and Ralph thought, Ralph has money, maybe Simon would like flowers,” the WR600 explained quickly, patting the hand he still held. “It was stupid. Ralph’s sorry. He just wanted to surprise you, but it was stupid to go outside. It wasn’t safe, he was stupid…”

Connor left the door, coming over to stand near Markus with the thirium to hand it to him. He scanned Simon’s discarded shirt on the floor and got traces of the sunflower pollen on it. They’d probably come from Ralph’s hands while carrying or dragging him. 

“It wasn’t stupid. No o-one’s ever brought me f-flowers. Thank you,” Simon’s smile grew a little sad as his eyes teared up. 

Markus had opened the thirium canister, but seemed like he didn’t want to interrupt Simon and Ralph’s quiet conversation. 

Connor felt like he should say something to Markus, but stayed silent for the same reason. Ralph and Simon’s stories and the evidence seemed to match up, and if that was the case, the killer was still at large… Yet again, he wished he could talk to Markus wirelessly.

Ralph seemed unsure how to handle the ‘thank you’ — he fidgeted a little, looked around them, shooting Connor and Markus both fleeting little glances too. Finally he squeezed Simon’s hand in both of his, focusing on it and nodding.

“Ralph’s just glad you’re safe now, Simon. Sometimes the humans give ‘get well’ flowers, maybe Ralph can get you some of those next.”

Connor sat on the floor next to Markus. He had a feeling they weren’t going anywhere for awhile.

“Ralph, I don’t want you to go outside again. At least, n-not for awhile. But I was thinking about those sunflowers. They were so b-beautiful.” Simon blinked sleepily and Connor could see Markus’ hands tense around the blue blood canister. “Do you think we c-could set up a garden here? If we grew flowers, we wouldn’t have to buy them. Maybe we could even s-sell them. What do you think, Ralph? Is that silly?” 

Simon sighed and his head suddenly fell limply against the wooden floor. Markus sat up and put a hand on Simon’s chest. 

“Simon?” Markus asked, staring as blue seeped out around the place where his hand was sitting. Even through Markus’ coat. “Something’s wrong. He’s still bleeding!” 

Ralph turned Simon’s face toward him and patted his cheek, looking him over with a quiet kind of panic.

“Simon. Simon,” he whispered. “No no no, wake up — Ralph would help make a garden, it’s not silly, it’s not…”

“Let me see,” Connor said quickly, pulling his hand and the coat both aside to scan Simon. 

Markus was already opening the panel in Simon’s chest, poking through the tubes and parts inside. 

“It must be something small or North would have seen it. Your scans would show it. Maybe the killer’s weapon nicked a tube.” 

Simon’s eyes fluttered rapidly, his face jerking back and forth. 

“Sun-sun-sun-flower-flower-flower,” he said in a stutter, LED changing to red once more. 

“Don’t we have a MC500 here? Someone find him!” Markus squeezed his eyes shut, mouthing the words to himself. He was probably asking the complex the same thing wirelessly. 

Ralph stared at Simon, keeping a hand on his face. He looked at Markus and Connor next, stunned. 

“What…what can Ralph do to help?” He said in a small voice. 

Connor just shook his head at him. If they had a MC500, he wondered why North hadn’t sent him up sooner. Had she thought Simon just needed blood? Had she thought he was going to die and there was no stopping it?

“Okay, okay. They’re bringing him up. Simon, please. Stay here,” Markus begged, still focused on looking through Simon’s abdomen. 

The blond’s head was facing Ralph but his eyes were staring into space. Every second that passed, his facial motions became more and more muted. He stopped blinking. The LED on his temple stayed on instead of flashing. A quick scan showed that Simon’s systems were trying to put him into emergency power mode but something kept reversing the process. His biocomponents would go to low power, then be flooded by thirium as his system kicked back on. 

Ralph grabbed one of Simon’s hands again and squeezed it, keeping the other hand on his face. 

“Simon. Simon. Stay awake,” he mumbled, patting the other blond’s cheek. “Simon? Simon!” Getting little response seemed to be making him panic.

Connor had no time to deal with that. He grabbed Markus’ shoulder, nodding at the various exposed biocomponents in Simon’s chest. 

“He’s trying to switch to low power, but something’s stopping it. Over and over,” he explained, frowning. Seeing Simon go from talking and responding to this was causing an emotional reaction Connor wasn’t used to — he felt a little shaky. Simon was as good as family to Markus, someone he loved. Losing him would be devastating. 

The answer was right in front of them — he had to find it.


	22. Love

“The low power reversal keeps flooding his system with thirium,” Connor said uncertainly. “Maybe…maybe we should take out his heart, keep it from circulating.” 

Markus seemed to calm at Connor’s touch, looking from him back down to Simon. 

“There aren’t any holes in his system. I think it’s seeping through the seals. Y-you’re right. We need to remove his heart. It won’t fix it but maybe it’ll buy us time.” 

Markus wiped thirium from Simon’s torso and gripped the thirium pump regulator, hesitating when they heard the door open behind them. 

Ken the gatekeeper and three Jerrys were hauling in a MC500. He was only the second one Connor could ever remember seeing. Like the PC200s and PM700s in the police force, most MC500s had been destroyed the first day of the revolution. 

The MC500 was badly damaged from the waist down, had burned stumps where his thighs and legs began. As the others lay him on the floor by Simon, his LED swirled yellow as he looked the blond over. 

Connor patted Markus’ shoulder. Having the MC500 here was reassuring — if anybody could figure out what was wrong with Simon, it was him. 

Ralph seemed to be completely ignoring everyone else in the room now, leaning closer to Simon’s face and talking to him still. It was a long stream of talk about flowers and gardens and Simon, mumbled almost too quietly to hear.

“Should we take out his heart? Would it help steady him?” Connor asked the MC500. He’d been there just moments, but it felt like every second counted for Simon.

“Yes, exactly. Hurry. His systems are being damaged,” the MC500 said quickly. 

Markus twisted the pump and pulled it free. Simon’s systems all flipped to emergency power mode effortlessly. 

“Can I see that please?” The MC500 asked, holding a hand out to Markus, who handed it off right away. 

“What — what’re you doing?” Ralph looked up as the heart traded hands, tears on his face. “NO, he needs that! He’ll die — you said — Ralph didn’t — Simon can’t die, please, he can’t, please—” He looked between the MC500 and Markus frantically as he spoke. 

“This is the doctor,” Connor assured, holding up a hand in a placating way. “He’ll help Simon, he won’t harm him.” After Markus had been so furious about Simon’s heart being pulled out before, he wasn’t surprised the WR600 thought of that as hurting Simon by default. 

Poking at the heart with several small tools that poked through his now white fingertips, the MC500 held it back out to Markus. 

“The timer was disrupted. It seems that something drained blood from his body at a damaging rate. I imagine more of his biocomponents will need time to repair. He shouldn’t walk and he needs to be kept in a heated environment. We should start a fire.” 

“Yes, absolutely — thank you,” Markus stammered, grabbing the heart and slipping it back into place. 

Connor scanned over Simon immediately, checking for any differences in status.

Ralph turned his attention to Simon again, too, patting his cheek. 

“Simon?” He sniffled. “A-are you here? Ralph’s here.”

Connor’s scan showed that Simon’s systems were in low power status instead of emergency, and his systems were no longer struggling against themselves. After several seconds, he blinked, his body suddenly becoming animated again. The blond looked around before focusing on the WR600. 

“Ralph. I…I think I…I’m not sure. I think I might have fainted?” Simon said dubiously. 

Ralph seemed to forget he was crying a second ago, bursting into a smile. 

“Fainted. Yes, that’s — that’s it, sort of,” he said quickly. “Fainted. And then they took your heart out.” 

Connor rested a hand on Markus’ shoulder again, giving the MC500 a grateful smile. Simon had had just minutes — Connor didn’t know about Markus, but he was feeling a lot shakier now than a minute ago. This murderer was still out there, maybe attacking other androids right this moment. The four androids in the basement had already met the fate Simon had so narrowly escaped — how many others would?  


* * *

  
Markus spent the entire night watching over Simon. The MC500, Oliver as he called himself, stayed long enough to repair what he could. Simon’s body would have to do the rest. Two canisters of blue blood later, the peaceful blond was able to sit up on his own. Oliver had told them several times that walking might burst tubes between Simon’s biocomponents, so he had to be carried if he was moved. 

Simon was carefully moved to a once broken lawn chair the androids had found in one of the backyards in the complex. The Jerrys eagerly offered it up so Simon didn’t have to lay on the floor. 

As for keeping him warm, that was a challenge. There were plenty of things to burn, but it all came from the supply of wood they had stored for repairs and it was damp. Making a safe place to burn it also proved to be challenging. Markus had settled on a big metal trashcan on top of several bricks to keep it off of the wooden floor. 

Too bad nobody had matches. Maybe all their efforts were in vain. Simon could just cuddle with Sumo like Alice. Markus felt like cussing, which was very strange, as he kept rubbing the only two dry sticks in the complex together. Simon watched him through hooded blue eyes. 

“I think it’s working,” he said nicely. 

Markus snapped one of the sticks and scowled down at it. 

“Maybe…maybe Ralph could try,” the WR600 suggested softly from where he’d been sitting beside Simon’s chair for the past several hours. He hadn’t said much since Oliver left, but seemed reluctant to let Simon out of his sight. 

Stepping cautiously closer to stand a few feet from Markus, he added, “Ralph’s house had a fireplace. He knows fires.”

Judging by the burns on his body, Markus knew that had to be true. He wordlessly offered Ralph the broken stick. 

“Markus?” Niska stuck her head in the door. “Markus, there are humans outside. They are trying to give us bags. Can I scare them off?” 

“What? No,” Markus told her, getting up and dusting his knees. “I’ll talk to them. Where’s Connor?” 

“Connor? Why?” Niska asked venomously. 

Markus brushed past her. She was always in a bad mood when humans were around. He made his way down the stairs, pausing by the archway to the living room. 

“Connor?” 

“Markus, there are humans outside!” Nigel told him in alarm. Several other androids gathered behind him, casting fearful looks through the front windows of the house. 

Markus had to wonder what the humans looked like since everyone was scared, so he peeked through the window to see. 

A woman in a puffy purple jacket and a white knit hat stood just outside the gate, a child at her side. Two other women were behind her, both with children nearby. They didn’t seem angry or scary to Markus. Just cold as they rubbed their hands together. Ken lingered nearby, pacing back and forth and glancing at the house. 

“What’s wrong?” Connor stepped out of the kitchen, looking around quickly at the gathered androids. Spotting Markus, he quickly moved over beside him, following his gaze out the window. “Do you know them?”

“No,” Markus told him, shaking his head. “Niska is worried. She thinks they’re giving us something that might be dangerous.” 

There were several suitcases around the gate, gathering snow on top as the women waited. 

Markus frowned as he watched them. 

“…They brought their children with them.” He looked to Connor and cocked his head. “That’s very strange.” 

Stepping around Nigel, who was tensely huddled at the edge of the window, Markus stepped outside onto the porch. 

Connor wasn’t far behind, sticking close to his side.

“People who meant harm wouldn’t involve their children,” he reasoned. “But just to be safe, maybe I should talk to them and you should stay back.”

Markus slowed his pace. That wasn’t a bad idea. In theory. The problem was that it would put Connor in danger, which wasn’t something Markus would ever agree to do. 

“No, I’ll talk to them. It’s expected.” 

Connor turned and placed both hands on his shoulders, giving him an earnest look.

“That’s exactly why I should go, Markus. If people expect you, they could make plans based around that fact.” He turned and scanned over the people standing beyond the gate, adding, “I don’t think they’re dangerous, but please let me greet them at least. Once I hear what they’re here for then you can talk to them.” 

“Markus?” One of the women called. 

Markus wanted to look, but he was too busy admiring the sparkle the snow left in Connor’s deep brown eyes. It was mesmerizing so close up. How would he paint that? How could he possibly capture not only the crystal-sharp details but the way he felt? 

“People who meant harm wouldn’t involve their children,” he repeated stupidly. 

Connor’s lips curved into a little smile. 

“I’ll be right back,” he assured Markus, patting his shoulders before turning and starting for the gate. As he did he raised a hand and waved at the humans gathered outside. “Hello! My name is Connor. What’s yours?”

“I’m Laura,” the woman in the white hat said with a smile in return. She leaned down and picked her daughter up, propping her on her hip. “This is Emma.” 

Markus came out of his daze and hurried after Connor. 

“Hello,” Connor was telling the little girl, smiling. He turned his attention back to the woman. “It’s harsh weather for children to be out in, so I’ll try not to waste your time. Can I ask what the suitcases are for?”

Markus came closer, staying behind Connor. Emma was staring at him with big blue eyes. 

“Oh,” Laura sat her daughter back down and moved the suitcases closer. “I’ll t-try to explain quickly too. Um. So, we used to have a PL600 — oh, is that offensive? I’m so sorry!” The woman said nervously. 

“It’s okay, we sometimes call ourselves our model numbers too,” Connor reassured her, smiling. “Did your android have a name registered?”

“Benjamin, but he, well…” Laura’s expression saddened and she forced a smile. “He didn’t get to be free.” She took a breath and smiled again, patting the suitcase. “Emma read that androids could get cold, and she saw the PL600 on the news, so she got other f-families in her school to donate some things. There’s some books and some clothes, even some crayons,” she laughed at the last part, but her eyes tears up a bit as she glanced down at her daughter. “Benny loved to draw with her.” 

Emma smiled up at her mom and came over to put a small hand on the fence. 

“Benny could draw dinosaurs!” The girl said proudly. 

The news — was Simon on the news? Liam?

Connor blinked and looked at the suitcases again. 

“He sounds like a great friend,” he told Emma nicely, smiling. “That’s very kind of you and your friends to want to help us. Thank you.” He turned and placed a hand on Markus’ shoulder, looking to him for any input. 

Markus moved forward unsteadily. Having almost lost Simon just hours ago, the sadness in the woman’s eyes matched his. 

“I’m sorry for your loss, Laura.” 

“God, Markus, you don’t need to apologize, of all people,” Laura told him sadly. 

Markus signaled for Ken to open the gate. Two other androids came out of the guard house to help along with Markus to open the gate big enough for a person to pass through. 

Laura and Emma helped move the suitcases through. There were four in total and one in particular was heavy. It must have had the books in it. 

“Thank you. All of you,” Markus told them all, leaning down to offer his hand to Emma. “Especially you for all of your hard work.” 

Slapping her hand into his and shaking it, Emma beamed. 

“Welcome! Can you make sure that Benny gets the present?” She leaned in close and whispered. “It’s a dinosaur.” 

Markus caught Connor smiling at that out of the corner of his eye. The RK800 was scanning over the suitcases thoughtfully after that. 

“I will,” Markus promised. 

Laura picked her daughter up and led the other humans slowly away, with the small girl waving back at the complex as they went. 

As much as Markus wanted to believe their good intentions, they had to open the suitcases before going inside. It could be bombs as easily as it could be books weighing them down. 

“Anything suspicious?” Markus asked his companion, only after remembering that he couldn’t communicate wirelessly. He had made a note to ask Connor about that in more detail later. 

Connor straightened up, snowflakes landing on his hair as he shook his head.

“No. There aren’t traces of anything suspicious, and…” He glanced at the gate, amused. “There ARE a few traces of breadcrumbs and jelly. I would guess a small child had lunch right before packing these suitcases.”

“Alright.” Markus tipped the heaviest suitcase over and unzipped it. Inside were piles of clothing and sure enough, books. Nothing like what Carl had had in his home. There were books on a variety of subjects, from how to draw cartoon animals to books with vague titles like ‘King’s Hidden Kingdom’ and ‘Mind the Crows.” Markus poked through the suitcase and closed it, opening the next. “I’m glad to see they were sincere.” 

“Benjamin might not have been free, but it sounds like someone loved him,” Connor agreed. “Several someones.” He sighed and watched Markus look through the remaining suitcases for a moment — then blinked and looked up. “Markus, there’s smoke coming from the house.”

Markus stood up so fast, he dropped the shirt he had been examining into the snow. Thankfully, the smoke was coming from a hole in the roof, not the roof itself. 

“Ralph must have gotten the fire started.” 

Feeling silly for constantly being on alert, Markus gathered two of the suitcases and started back to the house. Lots of the androids in the complex were wearing tatters in place of clothes. That small child had helped more than she knew. 

He could hear Connor walking in the snow, following him to the front porch. 

“You left him alone with Simon?” He sounded a bit surprised. 

“Ralph wasn’t the one who attacked him. He…likes Simon.” Markus paused to tap the snow off of his boots before going up the steps to the porch. 

Connor did the same, glancing at him. 

“I know he didn’t attack him, but Ralph’s still damaged — he might not be the safest person to be lighting a fire inside your house.” He shrugged slightly. “But if you trust him, then I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.”

“I didn’t say I trusted him,” Markus clarified. Ralph was very strange. However he felt about Simon, sooner or later, Markus had to separate them. Turning to Connor, Markus sat the suitcase down for a moment. “Do you think that androids can fall in love?” 

Connor met his eyes and stared for a moment, like he’d been put on the spot.

“We’re people, aren’t we?” He said finally, averting his eyes to the porch as he stepped past Markus with his suitcases and over to the door. 

“If that’s true, then I think Ralph’s in love with Simon.” Markus caught Connor’s hand gently to keep him from opening the door. “I don’t know what to do, Connor. He’s dangerous.” 

Connor looked at their hands, then up to Markus’ eyes. He looked pensive.

“Is that his fault?” He asked. “If Simon cares for him in return, he might be the only one who ever will.”

“Exactly,” Markus sighed. “Simon seems oblivious. I could save my friend from danger and move Ralph away, but…it’s so cruel to Ralph. He seems to care for Simon genuinely.” 

Enough to attack a blue blood-sucking serial killer alone and unarmed to save him. 

Connor squeezed his hand, which he was still holding. 

“Or you could try talking to Simon,” he suggested. “He has a girlfriend, but he might not be as oblivious as you think. Maybe he just feels bad for Ralph.”

“Maybe…but not now. Simon needs time to repair.” Picking the suitcases back up, Markus headed inside the house. 

Nigel was there by the door to gawk at the suitcases and play with the buttons on his sleeves. 

“What did they give us? What’s in the suitcases?” 

“Clothes, mostly. Excuse us.” Markus ducked back through the small crowd and started back upstairs. Once Simon was bundled up and had the dinosaur present, the others could pick out whatever they liked. 

Though Markus sort of wanted the crayons for himself.

Connor followed him, of course, bringing both suitcases he was carrying into Simon’s room and placing them carefully on the floor by the blond’s chair. 

Ralph had indeed started a fire in the metal can — how, Markus had no idea. It was crackling slightly, a trail of smoke going out the top and drifting to the cracked open window. The WR600 himself was over beside Simon, and pressed a little closer as he sighted Markus and Connor. His uniform looked even worse than before — apparently he’d ripped the fabric that had been hanging off of the shoulder away entirely, leaving that shoulder and part of his chest uncovered. 

“What’s that?” He asked, eying the suitcases.

Markus lay the suitcase near Simon’s chair and unzipped it, pulling out the clumsily wrapped gift from the bottom and offering it to Simon. 

“A little girl saw a PL600 here on the news and thought it was her old android Benjamin. He used to draw with her and she got this for him. If you don’t want it, I can give it to Liam.” 

Simon took the gift and held it, leaning to look down at the suitcase. 

“Clothes too?” 

Ralph shifted uneasily on his feet, moving to the other side of the chair to be opposite Markus. He did peek at the suitcases, though.

“Clothes and books, mostly,” Connor replied, opening the other suitcases. The heavy book suitcase was one of them, the box of crayons laying on top of the paperbacks.

“Presents,” Ralph muttered to no-one in particular. “Merry Christmas. Happy birthday.”

Markus dug through the rest of his suitcase, picking out a thick white and baby blue hoodie, sitting it on Simon’s lap. 

“Put that on.” 

“Markus, I’m alright.” 

“Put it on,” Markus told him, looking him straight in the eye. Simon sat Emma’s gift aside and slipped the hoodie on. 

“Happy?” The blond sighed, tearing at the paper on the present. It only took him a couple of seconds to unwrap it. There was a small gray plush dinosaur inside. It was a childish take on brachiosaurus, but Simon smiled when he saw it. 

Connor smiled at it too before turning back to Markus.

“Are you going to take anything?” 

Over behind Simon, Ralph turned and went over to put more wood on the fire. 

“There are a lot of people here that need clothes more than me,” Markus told Connor, casting a glance in Ralph’s direction. 

Simon cuddled up with the dinosaur under his head, watching Ralph tend the fire, too. 

Connor raised his eyebrows.

“I wasn’t talking about the clothes,” he said. “But you’re right, and not all of them are going to ask for them, either.” The last was said with a pointed look.


	23. Six

Ralph returned to Simon’s side and sat on the floor beside his chair. It almost hid him from sight, with Simon still on the chair.

Standing by Connor, Markus smiled at the two others. 

“Simon, could you help Ralph pick out some new clothes? I can come back for the rest later.” 

Simon glanced up at them and nodded. 

“Of course.” 

Connor gestured to the suitcase of books when Markus turned back. 

“May I pick something?” 

“Yes, of course. You’re here in the complex and you’re an android, so yes,” Markus bumbled through explaining. What had happened to him? He never used to trip over his words. 

Connor wasn’t helping matters when he plucked the crayon box out of the suitcase, then turned and promptly handed it to Markus.

“There.”

Markus took them shyly and turned them over in his hands. 

“24 colors,” he remarked, peeking up at Connor and cracking a smile. “Thank you.” 

Connor smiled too, nodding at the crayons. 

“I’m sure you know how to blend them and make a lot more.” He glanced as the fire crackled loudly, nodding to Simon and Ralph. “Markus, I need to check in with Hank soon. Would you come with me?”

The invitation actually caught Markus off guard. Tucking the box of crayons into his back pocket, he gave Connor a nod. Going anywhere with Connor was nice. 

“Take care of Simon,” he added to Ralph. 

The WR600 peeked around the chair at him and nodded quickly.

“Ralph will.”

Connor opened the door, waving Markus through before he stepped through, himself.  


* * *

  
It had been a quiet night for Kara and her family. Hank had been snoring in the corner before long, Sumo curled up loyally beside him. The Jerrys were happy to talk to Kara and Luther, but had to keep their voices down. When it got light out, Hank had groggily excused himself and took the dog, saying something about buying breakfast. 

Nobody had come to give them any sort of update on how Connor and Markus had fared with the whole Ralph situation last night. Well, North had stalked by a few times, and from her Kara had found out that Simon was alive, if still damaged. That was it, though. Kara was considering venturing out of the room and back to the main house to find Markus for more information when she heard footsteps outside in the hallway.

“Hank?” She wondered aloud to Luther, glancing at him and then at the door. A Jerry hurried over to open it.

“Good morning,” Markus greeted the room, stepping inside with Connor in tow. The deviant leader was still in his long coat and boots, which were both dusted with snow. “How’s Alice? Do you need firewood?” 

Luther, who had been holding Alice since Sumo left, glanced to Kara for an answer. The Jerrys had kept a small fire going overnight so that Alice and their human guests would be warm enough. 

“We can get the firewood, Markus,” one of the Jerrys said cheerfully. Several others nodded, getting to their feet. They and the one by the door all retreated outside. Connor stepped aside as they passed, glancing after them. He shot some of the other Jerrys a smile and nod in acknowledgment. 

“Alice is…she’s okay,” Kara said, glancing at Luther and the little girl. Alice was resting. Maybe it was her YK500 programming, but not feeling well seemed to make her nap often, even if she didn’t technically need to sleep. 

Kara stood and gave Luther a nod. “Actually, Markus, I need to talk to you. Could we step outside a moment, please?”

“Of course,” Markus told her, frowning and side-stepping to gesture out the door. 

Kara waved Connor along too, stepping outside. The hallway was cold compared to the heated room. The living conditions in all of the houses in the complex seemed about the same, from what Kara had seen. She felt bad for the people here — this was about as comfortable as the original derelict ship Jericho had been. Still, it was a gesture from the government to provide androids housing at all.

When they’d gotten outside and Connor had closed the door behind them, Kara turned to face the two of them and sighed.

“I can’t thank you enough. Both of you. Alice would be dead without your help.”

Markus’ green and blue eyes flicked Connor’s way and he nodded shyly. 

“I’m just glad she’s alright. I’m very surprised that the police didn’t try to look for her since they thought you were human.”

“They didn’t believe she was really with us,” Kara replied shortly, frowning. She was angry just thinking about it. The arresting officers hadn’t seen Alice, so they’d assumed Kara must be carrying the girl’s passport just to fool them. “They were already decided that we were here to be terrorists to androids or something, and parents…someone who meant harm wouldn’t involve their children.”

Now Connor looked shy, and was shooting Markus a glance. Kara considered the two of them thoughtfully.

“Most of Alice’s damage was internal when we crossed the border back to here,” she continued, sighing. “Her fingertips, the leg — those must be from the cold. I-I have to find her YK500 biocomponents before we can return home, and I need your help to do it.”

“We only had one YK body here. I can ask North about fingers and legs. She’ll know better than me,” Markus explained. 

“Markus?” A Hispanic looking AX700 stuck his head out of a door down the hall, golden-brown eyes peering at Markus curiously. After a moment, he stepped out, carefully closed the door and came closer. “Excuse me,” he told Kara, turning to Markus again. “Markus, I know you told me that I can’t keep the cat, but…” 

“But?” Markus prompted after a pause. 

“Well, she had kittens last night.” 

“Tal,” Markus sighed, shaking his head a bit. “I’ll…I’ll have to deal with that later. We’ll find a shelter or something—” 

“A shelter? Can’t she stay, Markus? She won’t be any trouble! Or her kittens! I’ll g-get a job. I’ll pay for everything. I promise.” 

Markus held up a hand to him. 

“It was just a suggestion.” 

Kara was surprised to hear they had a cat, much less kittens. That sounded like something the people here would do, though, take in strays. As poor as they were, everyone here seemed very kind. 

“We should get her something to eat,” Connor told Markus, of the cat. His whole demeanor had changed at the mention of kittens, Kara noticed — he looked like he wanted to smile and wasn’t sure Markus would approve or not. Kara got very much the same impression as the RK800 turned to Markus and asked hopefully, “Could we go and see them after talking to Kara? I’ve never seen kittens before face to face, just pictures and videos.”

Kara hadn’t either, she realized.

Looking like he had been cornered, Markus nodded to Connor. 

“Yes, we can see them. The cat’s been with us for days, have you fed her anything?” He asked Tal. Suddenly guilty, Tal’s gaze dropped to the floor. Markus frowned. “Tal?”

“I…was really worried about her. I stole a can of cat food,” he confessed at long last. 

“What?” Markus snapped. 

“She was so hungry,” Tal told him sadly. 

“Excuse me,” Kara interrupted, glancing between them awkwardly. “I have a little money left after what we spent getting here. I would be happy to buy her something to eat.” She pulled out her wallet and unfolded several bills, offering them to Tal. 

She couldn’t help feeling for the cat, from one mother to another. She had done much worse than stealing to protect Alice and get them somewhere safe.

“Thank you so much!” Tal started crying as he took the bills from her, tucking them into the pocket of his ripped jeans and leaning closer to give Kara a quick hug. 

Markus watched the exchange, still frowning. He caught the android’s arm before he could retreat back to his room. 

“Tal, don’t steal. If a human saw you, everyone here would have been punished for it. The cat can stay until we can safely move her, then we’ll talk.” 

Giving Markus a small nod, Tal hurried away back into his room. As soon as the door was closed, the deviant leader turned to Kara again. 

“Thank you.”

Kara smiled at him. 

“We’re all just trying to live,” she said. “I wasn’t asking for any more parts for Alice before, by the way. I-I was hoping you would let us stay here until we can return to Canada. We can’t afford any more motels, and we can’t leave Detroit until Alice is well.” She glanced at Connor, who had put on a serious expression again, and back up at Markus. “We’ll help out around here however we can to repay you.”

“You have a job, right?” Connor asked, perking up. 

“Yes, but I spent my first paycheck on this trip,” Kara sighed. She wished she had money to help them with — they were living so rough compared to the situation Kara had been lucky enough to end up in in Canada.

Connor smiled like she’d just cracked a joke.

“If you have a job,” he said earnestly, “You must have had a successful job interview. Maybe you could help my life skills class to practice.”

Surprised, Kara nodded. 

“Of course,” she said, smiling. “You teach a class?” 

Connor looked almost shy about it as he nodded.

“Yes, on Mondays.”

“Connor’s been helping everyone with human-android interactions, and of course you can stay. Everyone’s welcome here,” Markus chimed in. “I would never ask you to pay for anything. If I track down any YK parts, they’re yours. Now,” he sighed, stepping past both of them, “Please excuse me. I have to go count kittens.” 

“Could we come along?” Connor said, already taking a step after him. Kara fell into step with them.

“Markus, Connor, before you go I need to ask you about Ralph. What happened last night? Did he really attack Simon?”

“No, he didn’t. They’re…” Markus glanced at her and hesitated. “They’re close. Can you tell me about Ralph? How dangerous is he?”

Connor stopped, too, coming back over to stand beside Markus. Kara noticed they stood quite close together. She’d only seen them side by side once before, in the church after the original Jericho sank. They were entirely different now.

“Ralph…I don’t actually know him that well,” Kara admitted, glancing between them. “Alice and I hid in a house overnight to avoid the police, and it turned out to be his house. I’ll admit, he made me very uneasy. He was carrying a big kitchen knife, and he — well, you’ve met him. He’s unstable and can have violent outbursts of shouting.” 

Feeling a little bad for what she’d said, Kara added quickly, “He never did anything violent toward us, though, except the shouting. And when you showed up to look for us, Connor, he risked his life to protect us without a second thought.”

Looking very guilty all of a sudden, Connor replied, “I want to apologize for chasing you. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s just a bad memory now,” Kara assured him, smiling. “You’re a different person than you were back then.”

She turned back to Markus, determined.

“If Ralph really didn’t hurt anyone, then I’d like to see him while I’m here. Without him, I don’t even want to think about what would have happened to Alice and I.”

“Of course. I’m sure he’d be happy to see you. He’s taking care of Simon upstairs in the main house.” Markus started off down the hallway again, waving Connor after him. It only took them a few seconds to reach the door where Tal had gone. 

The room inside had a partly collapsed roof with blankets and what looked like old fencing filling in the gaps. The floor was carpeted, but it was worn through in most spots. 

Tal was sitting along the back right wall, leaned over a cardboard box where the cat was. He was rubbing her ears with a smile. Kara could hear the cat’s gentle purr. Tal glanced up and his smile vanished when he saw Markus. 

“Yes?” 

Connor stopped beside Markus, but craned his neck to see into the box around Tal. He seemed so excited about the kittens all over again that Kara had to smile. 

“We’re wondering how many kittens there are,” she told Tal. Hopefully Markus didn’t mind her speaking up.

“Six,” Tal said sadly, eyes locked on Markus as he came over to kneel beside the box. 

“Six,” Markus said with a sigh.

“Six,” Connor echoed much more happily, leaning to look at the cat and kittens. Kara saw that the mother was a tuxedo cat, black and white with a soft pink nose. The kittens were a surprising variety of colors — black, stripy gray, soft creamy orange, and one that looked like a miniature version of the mother among them. They were all very tiny, eyes still closed and paws delicate pinks and grays.

“They’re adorable,” Kara said warmly. “It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Animals and humans were entirely different things than androids, and this was just another example of it. It made her a little wistful. Androids were designed to be as human as possible, but some human things they would never do.

Despite his irritation at the situation, Markus reached a hand into the box to gently stroke one of the kittens on the back. 

“They’re so small,” Markus mumbled. 

Tal’s face brightened at the comment and he carefully took one of the kittens out of the box and held it up for them all to see. 

“I n-named this one Markus, after you. He was the first one born.” 

Markus took the kitten and scrutinized it for a moment as it mewed and clumsily moved its head around in search of its mother. 

“…I guess we have our work cut out for us,” Markus said, offering the kitten to Connor next. 

The RK800 suddenly looked both excited and nervous. He cupped his hands and cradled the kitten carefully after Markus placed it there, brown eyes shining.

Kara leaned near the box and ran a fingertip gently over the kittens’ backs, then scratched the mother cat behind her ears. 

“What do you call her, Tal?”

“I called her Lucy, after a friend of mine that died in Jericho. She was like a mother to me,” he added with a misty eyed smile. Tal reached a hand across the box and grabbed Markus’ sleeve tightly. “Can she stay? Please? You can punish me for stealing, but please. She’ll be stuck in a tiny cage in a shelter and t-they might put her down and then her kittens will be motherless—” 

“STOP,” Markus said through his teeth. Placing a hand on Tal’s, he nodded. “Lucy and her kittens can stay. Alright? I wasn’t trying to punish you by getting rid of her. I was trying to make sure she had a good place to live—” 

“New Jericho is a good place to live!” 

“I said she can stay,” Markus added in exasperation.

Kara saw Connor stepping closer to the box with Markus the kitten still held like a precious thing in both hands. 

“Markus,” he began, then spoke to the tiny ball of fur, adding, “No, not you.” Looking up at the android Markus, he said a bit plaintively, “Markus, could you put him back with his mother? I’m afraid to move my hands, I-I can’t drop him…”

He held his cupped hands out to Markus, eyes pleading. “Please.”

Markus nervously slipped his hands into Connor’s to scoop the kitten up, lowering it back into the box with Lucy. He patted its tiny head with his finger and faced Connor again. 

“Didn’t you need to speak with Hank?” 

By the time he was standing again, Tal was back to crying. The poor android was petting each of the kittens as he leaned back over the box, talking under his breath to them. 

“It’s okay. You get to stay.” 

Kara was glad that Markus had had a change of heart. He wanted Lucy to have a good home, but Kara had a feeling that New Jericho was going to be a very nice place for the cat to live.

“Hank! Yes, right,” Connor said, blushing the tiniest bit. He fished the phone out of his pocket and held it up, turning and starting for the door. Kara could see him dialing already. Turning to Markus, she rested a hand on his shoulder.

“Would it be okay to see Ralph now? He’s probably heard we’re here, right?” Alice was scared of Ralph when they’d first met him, and she wasn’t feeling well — Kara thought it best to visit the WR600 on her own. “I know you’re very busy,” she added to Markus apologetically. “If you tell me which room, I could go visit on my own.”

“I’ll walk you there. I need to check on Simon, so it’s no trouble.” Markus led her out of the room, leaving Tal to tend to the cat family. Closing the door behind them, Markus started off back down the hall. “Simon’s in a similar situation as Alice. It will take him some time before he can even walk again.” 

Kara stepped quickly to keep pace with him, glancing to see his expression. Troubled, very troubled.

“What happened?” She asked. “If Ralph didn’t attack him, how did he get tangled up in all of this? He’s the type to avoid a fight, I was shocked when he took on Connor to help us.” Well, caught Connor by surprise, anyway. If Ralph hadn’t had the element of surprise, Kara was sure Connor would have easily subdued him.

“Going by what Ralph has told us, he was going to get flowers for Simon. Simon was worried about him and followed after him and got attacked. Ralph fought off the attacker.” Markus looked down at her. “Oh. Did you mean how he ended up in New Jericho?” 

Flowers? Remembering Ralph trying to cook them breakfast, albeit terribly, Kara could easily imagine him wanting to give Simon a gift too. Flowers seemed sort of romantic, though. 

“I admit I’m curious about that too,” she told Markus. “Ralph told us he lived alone hiding because other people tried to hurt him — I thought if anything he would’ve stayed hidden after the revolution ended.”

They stepped together outside of the house into the snow. It crunched under their boots loudly. The air was clear for once, leaving a sweeping view of the snow covered complex. It was hard to see how many buildings were inside the fence, but there were will over a dozen. 

“I’m not sure what happened to his home. North caught him near where the first murder victims were and brought him in as a suspect.” Markus headed back to the two story colonial style house in front of the main gate. 

“And then she thought he attacked Simon last night, too?” Kara frowned, jogging after him. Markus was a good deal taller than her. “You mean Ralph didn’t come here on his own, he’s…being held here?” She wasn’t sure what to make of that. Markus didn’t seem like the type to keep prisoners, but North certainly did.

“At first, yes. After talking to him and then Simon, though, I’m confident he’s not responsible for any of the deaths. He can leave if he wants to now, but I doubt he will. Simon needs him.” 

Markus paused at the door to his house to tap his boots off. 

Kara did the same, thinking about what he’d said. If Ralph had friends here, it was better than being somewhere alone. He’d seemed pretty lonely when she met him. On the other hand, he’d also seemed terrified at the prospect of being captured or threatened by anyone, and that was apparently what North and the others had done as a first impression to New Jericho for him…

This was going to be an interesting chat.


	24. Colors

Every movement was difficult. Was this how it felt to be exhausted as a human? Simon had to wonder as he hazily picked through the suitcase of clothing by the lounge chair he was restricted to. Markus had left all the clothes there and Simon felt like it was a perfect chance to put Ralph in something that hadn’t been burned off of him. 

“What color do you like, Ralph?” Simon asked his friend, resting his head for a moment against the stuffed dinosaur Markus had left for him. The longer he held his head up, the more difficult it became. He was certain that standing up would end with him flat on his face on the floor.

Ralph stepped away from the fire, which he’d been dutifully adding more wood to every half hour or so. Because the wood was wet, it took awhile to dry out before lighting, so the pieces had to be staggered. 

Looking at the folded hoodies, sweaters and jeans in the suitcase for a moment, Ralph finally admitted, “Ralph can’t see colors so well. Maybe you should pick for him.” He seemed a little sheepish about it, like he didn’t want to disappoint Simon with such an answer.

Pulling on a smile, Simon nodded to him. 

“That’s alright. Let’s see what we have here.” With a lot of focus, Simon sat back up and rifled through the suitcase. 

There were lots of colors to choose from. Thankfully, at least some of the clothing was newer and would auto size to the wearer. A light purple hoodie stood out the most. Ralph liked flowers and the dreamy color reminded Simon of lilacs, so he sat it aside from the suitcase. Adding a pair of blue jeans and a plain white t-shirt to the stack, Simon offered it to Ralph shakily. 

“Here.” 

The WR600 accepted the clothes, but hardly looked at them. He’d noticed how shaky Simon was.

“Thank you, Simon,” he said, mismatched eyes flicking from Simon’s face down to his chest and back. “You need to rest now, rest. Ralph will change into these.” 

Nodding, Simon lay back down again. His limbs felt heavy, like his system was struggling to lift them. As much as he didn’t want to worry Ralph, he also was a little scared to be left alone. With how unsteady he felt, it was easy to imagine shutting off without anyone noticing for awhile. 

The blond tucked his hand up under his head, squishing the stuffed dinosaur. 

He missed kids. Rebelling against being what CyberLife made him was difficult when he had enjoyed so much of his previous life. Children were fun. They were curious and they knew nothing of the narrow-mindedness that their parents had. 

Laying in bed all day had left his mind to wander. What if Mandy decided to have a baby? Sure, it wouldn’t be Simon’s, but he could certainly care for it— 

Mandy. 

Simon sat back up, catching the back of the lounge chair to keep his balance. 

“Ralph, have you seen the phone?”

“Phone? Yes…yes, Ralph saw that.” Ralph spoke almost nervously as he stepped back from the other end of the room, straightening the hem of his new hoodie. The lilac purple shirt and faded blue jeans made it more obvious how pale and light-haired Ralph was — and made the big black and blue scars on his face stick out, too. 

Stepping up beside Simon’s chair again, the WR600 said softly, “North took it when…when Simon was dying. Ralph saw her.”

Maybe it was the blood loss, but Simon barely noticed what he was saying. Ralph looked so…nice. Huggable, even. Pastels always made people appear more gentle, so perhaps that was it. Simon covered his staring with a smile. 

“Oh. I guess it can wait.” 

Asking Ralph to go and get it from North was a terrible idea. They didn’t get along. Simon lay back down heavily. He’d just have to wait and hope that Mandy didn’t mind not hearing from him for a couple days. 

Ralph frowned and very carefully placed a hand on Simon’s forehead, then his cheek. Shaking his head, he went to get Markus’ long coat and drape it over the other blond’s legs like a blanket again.

“Warm, keep Simon warm,” he told himself, tucking the edges of the coat in around Simon and patting the collar down over his chest. “There, you’re snug. Snug,” he repeated, smiling. “As a bug. In a rug.”

Someone knocked on the door, and he was instantly on edge again, looking over there with a frown.

“It’s alright,” Simon told him gently, reaching a hand out to take Ralph’s. Would there ever be a day where Ralph wasn’t jumping at every sound? Every time Simon felt like he was making progress in helping Ralph feel at home, the WR600 would be startled by something and nervous all over again. “Come in!” Simon called over across the room. 

Ralph squeezed his hand and took a few steps closer as the door opened. Markus stepped in, accompanied by a familiar blond AX400 with no LED.

“Kara? Yep, it’s Kara,” Ralph muttered beside Simon, sounding bewildered.

Markus came over to check on Simon right away, feeling his face as Ralph had done. 

“How are you doing? Staying warm?” 

“I’m fine. Ralph’s taking good care of me, Markus, but do you have the phone? I don’t want Mandy to worry about me.” 

“I think North still has it,” Markus said thoughtfully. 

“Ralph?” Kara stepped around Markus to get in the WR600’s line of sight, smiling. Ralph had inched halfway around Simon’s chair as soon as Markus got near them, but stubbornly held onto the blond’s hand. He looked at Kara and fidgeted, moving from one foot to the other.

“Hi Kara,” he replied quickly, shifty-eyed at Markus and Simon before focusing on her again. “Where’s the little girl? Ralph heard she was hurt.”

“Markus and the others helped her,” Kara assured him, stepping a bit closer and smiling. “She’s safe.” 

“Glad to hear it,” Simon told her, squeezing Ralph’s hand to hopefully reassure him. “Ralph was worried.” 

He hoped that Mandy wasn’t worried. The human woman didn’t seem like the worrying type to Simon. Unlike poor Ralph. 

Kara looked at the two of them and smiled again, more warmly this time.

“Ralph, I never got the chance to thank you for helping us hide from the police. You saved our lives,” she said sincerely. “Thank you. I’m really glad to see you’re safe and not alone anymore.” She held out her arms, adding, “Could I give you a hug? If it’s okay.”

Ralph seemed to jump from nervous to happy in seconds. He finally let go of Simon’s hand to step into Kara’s arms and hug her. She hugged back warmly, patting his back.

“Ralph’s glad you’re safe, too,” the WR600 said quickly. “He’s glad…he thought maybe he’d never see you again, but he still considers himself your friend.”

“Of course you are!” Kara sat back and smiled at him, earning a little grin in return.

Laying his hand on his lap, Simon leaned back in his chair again. It was so nice to know Ralph had another friend in the world. Someone who would worry about him if he went missing. That was more than some androids in the complex had. 

Patting Simon’s shoulder, Markus stepped away from the lounge chair. 

“Ralph, I’m not sure if you were planning on leaving or not, but I wanted to tell you that you’re welcome to stay. Once we’re better established, you’d have your own room and everything. No one would bother you. Please think about it.” 

Ralph snapped right back to fidgety and glanced at Simon and then the door.

“Ralph doesn’t want to be alone,” he muttered, and turned and headed off to the other side of the room. He just picked up a piece of wood and started back to add it to the fire, though.

Kara watched this thoughtfully. 

“I should probably get back to Alice and Luther,” she admitted. “I just wanted to visit and see how you were. I’m glad you’re going to be okay, too, Simon — it sounds like yesterday was quite a scare.”

Ralph muttered some more, tossing the wood into the fire.

“Scare, yes, Ralph was scared…”

“Well, I wasn’t awake for most of it. I’m sorry I scared everyone,” Simon told them, Markus more than Kara. The deviant leader shook his head. 

“It wasn’t your fault.” 

Simon had just been worried about Ralph running off, he had never meant to scare everyone. Now the complex had used all their emergency blue blood canisters on HIM. If anyone else was badly injured, which happened with every new truck it seemed, they’d have to die because of Simon. 

Nodding to his friend, he kept his opinions to himself. The best thing he could do was to get better and find a way to get more blue blood. Unfortunately, that probably didn’t leave any time for dating Mandy. 

Ralph came back over and patted Simon’s shoulders, avoiding looking at Markus. He looked at Simon sadly.

“No, it’s not Simon’s fault,” he agreed. “It’s…it’s Ralph’s fault. He knew it wasn’t safe outside, but Simon went out before, the others went out, so he thought…maybe it’s okay.” He shook his head quickly, as if answering his own comment.

Kara glanced between them and Markus a bit awkwardly, unsure what to say to that.

“The only person’s who is at fault is the killer. He’s the one attacking people.” Markus shook his head. “No one should be going outside until we find out who the attacker is. Connor and I just need a couple of days without a snowstorm going on and I’m sure we’ll find something.” 

“Connor is programmed to investigate crime,” Kara chimed in, nodding. “I’m sure that you can solve this together.” 

Ralph said nothing else, but slipped a hand into Simon’s again, squeezing it. He didn’t look very reassured, looking at the window and the fire barrel shifty-eyed and twitching his head to glance over his shoulder several times. 

There was an impatient knock on the door.

“Come in,” Simon called over lightly, hoping that it was North. Then he could get the phone and text Mandy…but Ralph would probably be scared. Simon looked up at him, then down at their intertwined hands. 

For some strange reason, he hadn’t connected holding hands with anything romantic before. If Mandy saw them, though, she’d certainly find it weird. Humans didn’t hold hands unless they were close… 

The door opened immediately, and North leaned in, quickly taking note of who was in the room.

“Markus, I heard you were in here. When you’ve got a minute, I’d like to talk to you,” she said, glancing at Ralph as she said it. She frowned, stepping inside and pulling the phone out of her pocket. “And Simon, there was a call for you. I told her you’d call back.” 

By the time she was close enough to hold the phone out to Simon, Ralph had put the chair between him and her. He even let go of Simon’s hand to do it.

Kara stepped over next to Markus.

“I could get back to the other house on my own, if you’re needed here,” she offered, smiling.

“Thank you,” Markus told Kara, hurrying to take the phone from North and hand it off to Simon. Giving Ralph an apologetic smile, he took North by the shoulder and led her back out of the room. “What did you need?” Simon heard him saying. 

Tapping the phone’s screen, Simon was sad to see a string of texts from Mandy marked as unread. Sitting the phone on his lap, Simon looked back up at Kara. 

“Can you say hi to Alice for me and let her know that Ralph’s alright?” 

“Of course,” Kara said, glancing at Ralph and back to him. “She was worried about Ralph — she’ll be happy to hear it.” She looked like she wanted to hug Simon, too, but restrained herself and just leaned down and patted his arm gently. “Don’t push it, okay? Feel better. ‘Til next time, Ralph.” She waved at them both and turned and stepped outside, closing the door behind her.

“Next time,” Ralph echoed a bit sadly. “Right. Ralph can stay.”

As eager as he was to start texting Mandy back, Simon offered his hand to Ralph instead. If there was any way he could convince the WR600 to stay there in New Jericho, he had to try. If being his friend was all it took, Mandy could wait a few more minutes. 

“You’re going to stay at the complex?” 

Ralph fidgeted, glancing at the door before taking Simon’s hand. 

“Simon,” he said quietly, “Simon. No-one here likes Ralph but you. Well, and Kara.” Again, he glanced at the door uneasily. Markus and North hadn’t returned yet. “If Markus wants him to stay in a room alone, Ralph won’t stay. He could be alone anywhere.” 

He squeezed Simon’s hand, looking at him hopefully. “But if he can stay with Simon, he will.”

Perhaps it was the loss of blood that made Simon hesitate to respond. 

Stay with him. Somehow that sounded like much more than just being friends. Living with Ralph seemed daunting suddenly at that moment. North and him didn’t get along, and Ralph was right that no-one in the complex wanted him there. Especially after the last incident. 

Not seeing Ralph every day would be awful, though. As strange as he was, there was no one else Simon could spend unending hours with so peacefully. The idea of planting flowers with Ralph was one of the few things Simon looked forward to once he was able to stand up again. 

“I would like that,” he told Ralph at long last, smiling. 

Ralph’s gaze flicked from Simon’s eyes to their hands and back up. After a moment, he offered a small smile back. It was obvious that he would like the two of them to keep sharing a room, too. But would Markus allow it?  


* * *

  
“Pull over here, please,” Connor told Hank, pointing to one side of the road. The blue blood path to the scene of last night’s attack had faded, and fresh snow was rapidly covering it up, but Connor could still make it out. It led right from New Jericho, but he’d had Hank drive closer to the crime scene while he watched the blood trail.

Connor was determined to gather any evidence without making Markus look at any other horrible things. Finding the PJ500 had upset him, and there was no reason why Hank couldn’t go with Connor instead — they were partners while they worked for the police, they already knew procedure and everything.

Riding side by side with Hank in his car felt like old times, aside from Sumo being shoved in the back seat, snoring as they pulled off the road near a quiet row of stores. 

It was the middle of the day now and lots of people (humans as far as Connor could tell) were going about their business. Hank turned off the car and cleared his throat, shifting in his seat to look at Connor. 

Carefully unstrapping his seatbelt, Connor turned to him and pointed over across the street.

“The trail of blue blood goes into that alley.”

“Before we do all that, I uh,” Hank cleared his throat again, holding up a hand. “Connor, I know you’re not human and you don’t work the same way humans do…”

Connor stopped reaching for his car door handle and sat back in the seat, looking at Hank in surprise.

“No, I’m not,” he agreed, “And no I don’t.” He knew that Hank accepted what he was, so he wasn’t worried so much as curious why he was bringing it up now.

“Just gimme a second, alright? Before you go off and work on your little ‘project’ with Markus, I need you to know that you can talk to me. Any weird questions or stuff you wanna know about. Okay? And if he does anything — ANYTHING — that makes you uncomfortable, you call me and I’ll be there to get you, no questions asked.” 

Uncomfortable? Connor raised his eyebrows, opening his mouth to reply and then closing it again.

“Hank,” he began, feeling his face heat up. Damned realistic programmed-in blushing. He wanted to ask why Hank thought Markus would do anything to make Connor uncomfortable, or what exactly a ‘weird question’ would entail, but in the end he just answered awkwardly, “Markus isn’t showing up. I didn’t tell him I was coming here, I didn’t want him to see this.”

“Yeah, I got that,” Hank snorted, shaking his head and stepping out of the car. “I just wanted to say something while I had the chance. You aren’t coming home a lot lately,” Hank told him before shutting the door. 

Hopping out and closing his own door, Connor hurried around the car and fell into step beside him.

“I’m sorry about that,” he said sincerely. “A lot has been happening at the complex, and Markus tries to do everything, but he’s overwhelmed.” He tucked his hands behind his back and glanced sidelong at Hank. “I just…I see him looking after and protecting everyone but himself, and I want to care for him so that someone does.”

Connor hadn’t been checking in with Hank nearly enough. He resolved to do better.

“Once we catch this killer, things will quiet down again,” he promised. “I miss being home with you and Sumo, too.” 

They were approaching the alley entrance. The blue blood trail was a thin smear that had soaked into the surrounding snow to Connor. He knew that Hank couldn’t see it at all this many hours after the blood was spilled. 

“Ah, Sumo. I forgot to lock the car. Just a minute,” Hank grumbled as he made a U-turn back towards the car. 

The alley was blocked off by a pile of extra snow from a snow plow passing by. It had stirred up the trail in several feet of jagged ice from the road. 

A couple standing near the store beside the alley glanced Connor’s way as soon as Hank left his side. They leaned closer and whispered behind their hands, wide eyed. 

Connor looked at them for a moment, then turned and looked over the ice blocking the alley. He could easily clamber over it, but Hank not so much, so he started to test kicking the edges, seeing if it would crack.

It was easy to forget that he and Hank were famous. The revolution wasn’t so long ago, and they had been on the news. Had made history. It hadn’t felt like that — it wasn’t some self-glorifying moment when Connor led the army of thousands of freed androids marching to Markus. It had felt like a step toward redemption for the damage he’d caused working for the other side before.

“Excuse me?” A feminine voice asked from behind him. “Excuse me, are you an android?”


	25. Swearing

Standing up straight, Connor turned to look at the person speaking. He was sure the flickering blue LED on his temple answered her question.

It was an old women with deep set smile lines in her face and shining green eyes. Her expression brightened as she rummaged in her purse, producing a brightly wrapped present after a moment. She offered it to Connor with a soft smile. 

“You live at the complex, right? If you see my Nate there, could you give him this? Tell him Brianna says Merry Christmas.” 

“Don’t give it stuff!” A younger woman interrupted, charging over to block the gift with her hand. 

Connor would have scanned them if he’d had any network connection to check their identities. As it was, he could record faces with no names or affiliations. Glancing across the street for Hank, he turned back to the women.

“Calling someone an it is rude, but I’m sure you don’t think of me as someone either,” he told the younger woman, smiling. “Do you know each other? If not, whether she hands me things is none of your business.” He wanted to believe that the little old lady was genuine, but he could sort of hear Markus warning him that the gift could be a bomb in the back of his mind, so he gave it a quick scan.

The inside of the gift contained a piece of paper and what he could discern was a neatly folded knitted scarf. 

“It’s my business if you’re out here taking stuff from old ladies!” The woman snapped. 

“Oh no, this is Connor. He’s nice,” the older woman said, smiling warmly again. “He helped free all those men and women from CyberLife—” 

“Stay away from her!” The other woman was yelling, ignoring who Connor assumed was Brianna. 

“Who are you again? Ah, that’s right, you never introduced yourself,” Connor told the louder of the two evenly. He gestured to himself. “Look at me. Do I look like I came here to try to steal anything from anyone?” Thanks to Hank, he had nice clothes, including the gray peacoat and white scarf today since it was cold. Not that androids wearing rags were any more likely to be bad people, but that seemed like the shallow sort of judgment this woman would jump to.

“Whoa, hey,” Hank cut in suddenly, putting himself between Connor and the two women. “What’s going on here?” 

“Your fucking android was trying to rob this old lady! What’s wrong with you? Keep that thing in your house!” The younger woman grabbed Brianna’s arm and started hauling her away. 

“He’s not MY android! He’s his own person and he can go wherever the hell he wants to!” Hank yelled after her. “Fuckin’ nut-job,” he growled under his breath, turning to check on Connor. “You okay?” 

Connor watched them go sadly.

“She approached me and asked me to bring a gift to one of the androids in the complex, and the other woman thought I was trying to rob her,” he replied. Realizing this didn’t answer Hank’s question, he frowned and turned back to the icy alleyway. “I’m okay, Hank. Thank you for speaking up for me.” 

Connor wondered why he hadn’t spoken up for himself. He could have gotten angry and told the woman off. If he did, though, that would have confirmed her belief that androids were dangerous and shouldn’t be allowed near little old ladies, wouldn’t it?

“What?” Hank asked, then Connor heard him crunch off loudly in the snow. He turned just in time to see Hank confronting the young woman and the old lady. For a second, it looked like the younger woman might take a swing at him with how she was waving her arms around angrily, but she finally let go of Brianna with a rude hand gesture and stormed away. 

Connor felt bad for Brianna, getting dragged away by somebody she didn’t even know. Still, he had to smile as they started back over to him. He was grateful that Hank was there.

“Hello again,” he told Brianna when they reached him.

“Sorry for all the cussing,” Hank told the old lady. 

“Oh, you should see me play cards! I get so worked up,” Brianna laughed. “Hello Connor,” she said nicely, hugging the present under her arm. Brianna smiled up at Hank, pointing a thin hand at Connor. “My Nate was just like him. A good boy. The biggest heart ever. I always joked the factory got it mixed up with one meant for one of those tall TR fellows.” 

Hank smirked at that. 

Connor smiled at her. It sounded like Nate was a family member to her, not a possession. He wished the other androids at the complex could meet people like her.

“Could I ask what model Nate is? Maybe I’ve met him and I don’t even know it,” Connor said. “If he’s at the complex, Markus will know his name. He knows everyone.”

“Oh goodness. Let’s see now. Oh! He’s a CX100. He looks just like those newer PL somethings. The ones with the blond hair and blue eyes.” 

Hank glanced from her to Connor and frowned. 

“Is it just me or are there a lot of those?” 

“I suppose there are,” Brianna agreed, holding the present back out to Connor. “Can you give this to him if he’s there?”

Connor took the wrapped box carefully, smiling at her. 

“I promise, if I can find him I’ll deliver it to him. I’m sure it’ll make him very happy.” He hugged the box to his side the same way she’d been doing, nodding. “Will you be okay getting home out in all of this weather?” As long as no more belligerent strangers arrived, he thought she would probably be fine. She didn’t look like she’d been walking outside for long.

“Oh, don’t you worry. I’ll be fine now.” Brianna gave them one more smile and started off, clearly in better spirits than before. 

Hank watched her go, hands tucked into his pockets, then he turned back to Connor. 

“See? We’re not all assholes.” 

“You already proved that,” Connor told him, stepping up to the pile of frozen snow blocking the alley again. He frowned and gave it an experimental kick. “By the way, thank you for sending me along with Carl and Markus the other day. I’m glad to have met Carl, and…we ended up finding another android who needed help while we were there.” 

Brett seemed to be doing okay. North had told him this morning that the PC200 had gotten some replacement parts, although they hadn’t managed to repair his hearing. Connor intended to keep his promise about retracing their steps to look for Jacob. 

“At Carl’s place? Was it his creepy butler?” Hank asked in a grumble as he started to try and climb some trash around the alley to get over the ice.

Watching him a moment, Connor turned and gave the snow pile a running start, half-climbing half-sliding over the top. He landed in a crouch, checking to see that the gift box he carried was unharmed. 

“No, it was actually a PC200, one of the androids that used to assist the police!” He called back to Hank. It was shady in the alley. He tried giving the snow a good kick from that side and was satisfied to see a big crack appear in the icy outer layer.

After a string of muttered curses, Hank came clamoring over the blockage, sliding down into the alley fast enough that he almost toppled over. The gray haired man straightened his coat. 

“Oh. Weren’t those guys all wiped out? I heard from the guys at the station that they were the first ones to be handed over.” Hank started down the alley slowly, carefully not stepping in the middle. “Ah shit. Somebody’s been here. Look at these,” Hank said as he knelt and pointed to perfectly straight lines in the oddly flat snow. 

The alley had been scraped down and cleaned. There were no sunflowers or blue blood — or even bits of trash like one might expect to find in an alleyway. 

Connor was about to explain that Brett had worked for a security company, but he was too stunned to see the crime scene, or lack thereof.

“Shit,” he muttered, frowning and scanning over the area anyway. Forensics always left something, unless the clean up crew had known their forensics facts extremely well…

“WOW. Must be bad even with your scan, huh?” Hank commented dryly, returning to Connor’s side and crossing his arms. Slowly, he looked over the alley again, scrunching his face up. “Yeah. Shit.”

Connor glanced at him, realizing he’d never cussed in front of Hank before. Now was hardly the time to figure out how to feel about that one. He stepped down the alley to the chain link fence at the end, scanning over it as well. 

“It’s been cleaned and sanitized,” he told Hank, frustrated. “No traces of blood, not even thirium beyond the alley entrance! From Ralph’s description, the attacker was stabbed — they must have come back to clean up any trace of their DNA.” 

That suggested that the blue blood vampire was a human, but it was just speculation — they needed more evidence, PROOF, to be able to say for certain.

This was the only attack with survivors, but unfortunately Simon had been unconscious for most of the attack, and Ralph was not great with words or explanations.

…But he HAD seen the attacker.

Connor moved back over past Hank to the snow pile and kicked the cracked side out of the way. He had an idea, but it would have to wait until they were back at the complex. In the meantime, at least Markus didn’t have to come out here for nothing.

“There’s nothing here. We should just go.” He gestured to the open side of the alley for Hank to go through first, adding, “We still have time to check out the other scene, if you’d like. The one for the PC200 — he said his human friend was shot, and they got separated.”

“Sure, sure. We can check that out. Hey, uh,” Hank started after him, letting his arms drop to his sides again. “About Markus. I know him and I got off to a rocky start, but if you guys wanna hang out more, knock yourself out.”

Connor stepped out after him, shifting the little gift box to carry it in front of him. He looked at Hank curiously.

“We’ve spent most of the week together, Hank. I really SHOULD come home and spend more time with you,” he said. “Unless you mean…” He trailed off and blushed, realizing the implications.

“What did you think I meant?” Hank sighed, sliding back down onto the sidewalk. 

Several people glanced their way like before, though no one stopped. It was a pretty busy street. Whoever came back to clean up must have done so before it was light or they would have had to risk being seen. Then again, the convenient pile of stirred up snow might have given them some cover. 

Connor came down after him in several steps, hugging the gift box to his chest.

“I don’t know,” he admitted, sighing. “I-I don’t think Markus wants what you’re suggesting, I think he’s just overwhelmed, and he needs quiet moments, and…it’s quiet where I am.” 

He fidgeted, adjusting the scarf that had fallen down over his shoulder. That assessment seemed unfair, somehow. Markus cared about him, Connor knew that he did. But Markus cared about everyone, and he’d said it himself — Connor mattered to him the same way North and Josh and Simon did. His closest friends.

“Uh huh,” Hank scoffed, crossing his arms all over again. “Connor, come on. I’ve seen how Markus is around you. Carl could tell after just seeing you two in the same room. We’re not blind.” 

Hank led the way back to the car, ducking around a couple of college age looking men with big coats and backpacks. They didn’t give Hank any notice. As soon as one looked up in passing, his eyes were locked on the LED on Connor’s temple, though.

“Dude,” he whispered loudly, elbowing his friend in the side so the other man looked too. 

Connor shot them an unhappy look and moved to step right past. With so many androids living at the complex, it hadn’t occurred to him that the average human person wasn’t used to seeing them on the street everyday anymore. That, or they noticed he wasn’t a standard recognizable model and face, or…was his LED malfunctioning? 

Maybe thinking about Markus was making it flicker. If Hank thought Markus had feelings for him, and even Carl thought so…why hadn’t Markus said anything to him? And if Connor said something, what if he was wrong…?

“Good boy,” Hank was telling Sumo as he climbed back into the car. The old detective leaned around the seat to pat Sumo’s back.

Connor climbed into the passenger seat and leaned to check his LED in the mirror on the door. It was indeed flickering — typical when processing something, but now it was doing it rapidly. Maybe he was thinking too much.

Turning to reach over the seat, Connor gave Sumo some gentle pats on the back, too. It made no sense to worry. He just needed to go check Alfreda Security, check another crime scene off of the list, tie up another loose end so that Markus wouldn’t have to. They still had a lead on the vampire case as long as they still had Ralph.  


* * *

  
It took Markus over an hour to find a way to politely excuse himself back upstairs. Connor had vanished after going off to check in with Hank on the phone, and Markus felt terrible that he hadn’t realized that fact until he was standing back outside of Simon’s door.

Would it be strange if he texted Connor? They’d only been apart for an hour, but with a killer running around, someone disappearing made Markus worry. Straightening his coat, he knocked lightly on the door. 

North had said her piece. She wanted concrete evidence that Ralph wasn’t the killer before he was allowed to be around Simon. Markus just couldn’t convince himself that Ralph would hurt Simon, deranged or not. 

He knocked louder. 

“Simon? It’s Markus.” 

“Come in,” he heard Simon call from inside. Bracing himself for seeing Simon injured, Markus opened the door to step inside. 

The blond was still in his lounge chair with Markus’ coat over his legs. Simon smiled at seeing him. 

A small clatter came from the corner of the room. Ralph ducked and grabbed something from the floor, tucking it into the pocket of his new hoodie and muttering under his breath. He quickly came over to stand by the fire barrel and put another piece of wood in, shooting Markus several sidelong glances.

“Markus,” he said finally, warily. “Hello.”

“Hello Ralph,” Markus greeted him, closing the door behind him. With the direction their conversation was probably heading, he didn’t know why he bothered. Staying calm, he crossed the room to check on Simon with a hand to his forehead. Simon was still cold to the touch, which was fine as long as he didn’t move. “How are you feeling?” 

“Like it’s hard to move and like everyone’s fussing over me,” Simon told him tiredly. “I’ll be okay, Markus. I promise. I don’t plan on leaving this room anytime soon.” 

Markus nodded, then glanced at Ralph. 

“And what about you? Have you thought about staying here?” 

Ralph glanced quickly at the door, stepping over closer to Simon’s chair. He stood on the side opposite Markus. 

“Ralph’s not here because you want to help him,” he muttered, shaking his head. “He’s not sure why you want him to stay. The others don’t want him here. Only Simon does.” He fidgeted, adding awkwardly, “And…and Kara.”

“I…I want you here because you’re safer in the complex. I can look after you. Make sure you have a place to stay out of the weather, help if you get hurt. I know there are a lot of people here and it makes you uncomfortable, so,” Markus gestured to the door. “I have somewhere out of the way where you can stay. It’s a garage on the other end of the complex. It has a lock on the door and an old car to sit in.” 

Simon looked like he wanted to say something, but held off, turning blue eyes up at Ralph and reaching to take his hand. 

That didn’t bode well. 

Ralph’s mismatched eyes flicked down to Simon immediately, and he moved closer, taking the offered hand. Holding tight to Simon, he shook his head.

“No. No, Ralph doesn’t want to be alone anymore,” he insisted. “He never did — visitors just, they hurt him, they threatened… He hid because he was scared. Ralph’s not bad, Markus. He’s just scared,” he repeated, shifting from one foot to the other. “And he wants to stay with Simon. Simon likes him here, and Simon is safe, safe — Ralph will keep him safe.”

Staring at their hands, Markus couldn’t decide if he was relieved or not. Ralph hadn’t hurt Simon. There was no solid proof to present and most of New Jericho would see him as a murderer until the real killer was brought to justice, but he belonged here. With Simon. 

Noticing the way Markus was staring at them, Simon chimed in. 

“Please, Markus. It’s my room. It should be my decision who can come in and who can stay.” Simon held Ralph’s hand forward for Markus to see as he pulled on a sad smile. “And I want Ralph to stay with me.” 

Ralph leaned against the chair, frowning. 

“If you won’t let him stay with Simon, then Ralph wants to leave,” he added quietly. “He doesn’t care if it’s safer here. He can hide again, he’ll be alone without Simon anyway.” He looked at Simon sadly. 

Markus held up his hands to placate them. He had no right to take Ralph away when he made Simon happy, or to make Tal get rid of his cat. Markus’ role was to be their protector and make sure that they were safe no matter how they chose to live their lives. 

“You’re right, Simon. Just like dating Mandy, getting a job, or whatever you want to do — it’s your choice. If you want Ralph to stay here, of course he can stay,” he told them. “I’m your leader, not your owner.” It felt like an obvious statement, but with everyone calling him rA9 and making statues to him, Markus needed to hear it as much as they did. 

Ralph turned to look at Simon, then threw both arms around his shoulders, hugging him over his chair.

“Thank you, Simon! Thank you,” he said quickly, smiling brightly. “Ralph didn’t want to go!” He sat his head up and looked at Markus, abruptly serious again. “Will you tell the others? They don’t know Ralph. They hate him,” he said grimly. “When he brought Simon back they didn’t recognize him, and — and they attacked him, ran away — North hit him. TELL them Ralph didn’t hurt Simon, please.”

“I’ll tell everyone to leave you alone, Ralph, but we don’t have any evidence to clear your name yet. Connor and I have to go to the crime scene and check it. Which reminds me,” Markus stepped over and held out a hand to Simon. “I need to borrow the phone for a minute.”


	26. Trespassing

Simon handed the phone over willingly, distracted by talking to Ralph. 

“We’ll get some flower pots when it warms up.” 

Ralph stepped around his reclining lawn chair to perch on the edge of it, pulling Simon’s coat blanket up over his chest again and patting it gently.

“By then you’ll feel better. Ralph will grow sunflowers for you,” he promised warmly, feeling Simon’s forehead. “Now that he knows no-one ever gave you flowers, he’ll give them all to you.” He was talking about butterflies and bees now, something about pansies and fuchsias attracting them. 

Markus sent Connor a quick text, asking if he was still at the complex and when he wanted to go check the crime scene. When he turned to give the phone back, he was caught off guard seeing Ralph and Simon so close. Simon looked so happy at all of the rambling about flora. If that’s what being in love looked like, it looked a bit silly. 

Like Markus gawking at Connor in the snow or fumbling his way through explaining their friendship to both Hank and then Carl. He ran his thumb over the phone absently as he considered applying the word ‘love’ to Connor. The word held so much meaning, it was scary to use it without being absolutely certain. Too bad the English language didn’t have equivalents to all the words that Greek had for love. Maybe one of those would apply to Connor better. Perhaps agápe. No. Storge? Certainly not. 

Glancing at Simon and Ralph again, Markus frowned. Those two were going to face a lot of trouble going forward. At least until the investigation was concluded. Markus sat the phone on Simon’s lap. 

“Thanks.”  


* * *

  
Alfreda Security was a very tall concrete and glass building in the middle of the city. As Hank and Connor pulled up in front of it, several people in drab business suits were heading inside, tailed by two guards in black with Alfreda printed on their backs. 

Hank leaned to peer out the windshield, frowning up at the building. 

“What’re we doing here again?” 

Connor watched the people retreat into the building with a small frown.

“We’re looking for a blood trail. The wind and snow since then won’t make it easy,” he said. “We’ll have to walk and I can scan for traces of it. Why don’t we take Sumo with us this time?” 

It wasn’t like the big dog would do any damage to the trail that people walking over it for days hadn’t already, and Connor didn’t trust Alfreda. If they could murder humans and burn androids on a whim, a dog could disappear here, too. He caught the reflection of himself in the mirror as his LED flickered red at that thought.

“Hm. Okay,” Hank agreed, hopping out of the car to open the back. Unhooking the plastic cone around Sumo’s neck, he led the Saint Bernard out. “Whoa, wait a second boy. Where the hell is that leash?” 

While Hank leaned into the car to look for it, Sumo took the opportunity to shake himself. He was finally free from the cone! As Connor opened his door to step out, Sumo woofed with surprising volume and took off toward Alfreda. 

“Fuck!” Hank shouted, taking off after him, leash in hand, through oncoming traffic. “Sumo! Hey!” 

The Saint Bernard made it safely up to the tall building and started snuffling at the snow, while an automated car barely missed running Hank over in the street. 

“Hank!” Connor glanced to be sure the next car wasn’t going to hit him before dashing out after the man. Grabbing Hank’s arm, Connor found himself irrationally worried that the man was hurt, even though he’d seen that the car missed him. He did a quick scan just to silence the worrying feeling. 

“We’ll catch Sumo,” he assured Hank, but it came out a little shaky. He could’ve been killed! Two seconds’ difference and Connor would have seen him get run over, and that disturbed him to think about.

Connor spotted the Saint Bernard trotting happily around the building into a loading zone, tail wagging all the way. 

“He never runs off. Should've left that damn cone on,” Hank complained, making his way more carefully to the building. 

A guard at the door looked their way as they got closer. 

Reminding himself that this company appeared to hate androids whether they were honest about that outwardly or not, Connor stuck close to Hank’s side, giving the area in front of the building a quick scan. If he’d thought ahead at all, he would have covered his LED with a hat. Instead, he’d been concerned with getting here and back fast so Markus didn’t notice he was gone…

As if on cue, his phone made a little sound as a new text message came in. Nobody else except Hank knew Connor’s number, and Hank was right here. Connor pulled the phone out and checked the text, sighing.

The text read _‘Still in New Jericho? When do you want to check out the crime scene?’_

“Sumo!” Hank called, clearly trying to force sounding happy. “Here boy!” 

“Hey, no animals or androids,” the guard at the door called back, though he gestured the way Sumo had gone. “Your dog ran that way.” 

Giving the guard nothing but a scowl, Hank started that way. 

Connor quickly stepped after him, giving the guard a backward glance on the way. Not allowing androids was already illegal discrimination by the new laws, but they didn’t seem to care who knew. 

As they rounded the corner, Connor guiltily gave the text a second look, wondering how to respond. He knew he’d have to explain going to the crime scenes without Markus soon, but it seemed like something to tell him face to face.

‘With Hank, be back soon,’ he texted back cryptically, tucking the phone into his pocket. He joined Hank in calling for Sumo, whistling for him as well. A giant Saint Bernard couldn’t hide for long, right?

“Hey, you can’t be back here,” a woman in a Alfreda guard uniform said as she came storming out of her guardhouse. Hank held up the leash he was holding. 

“My dog’s back here. Have you seen a giant Saint Bernard?” 

“What?” The guard asked, frowning at them. Spotting the LED on Connor’s temple, she pulled her rifle from her back. “No androids are allowed back here, sir. I’m going to have to ask you to leave. NOW.” 

“Whoa, hey! That’s illegal discrimination, lady. You can’t tell him where he can and can’t go!” Hank snapped back angrily. 

“And YOU’RE trespassing, Hank Anderson. Leave now, or I’ll be forced to shoot!” She argued, switching from aiming at Connor to Hank.

Connor frowned and took a step in front of Hank, holding an arm out to keep him from stepping any further forward.

“Your guard at the front pointed us this way,” he told the woman as politely as he could. “All we want is to take our dog and go. He said no pets were allowed either, so that’s what you want, isn’t it?”

The woman considered his words for a moment, then held her rifle tighter. 

“Your dog’s trespassing, too.” 

“Don’t you fuckin’ DARE!” Hank shoved his way around Connor to snarl at the guard. 

“Are you friends of Jacob’s?” She demanded, clicking the safety off her rifle with her thumb. 

“We don’t know a Jacob,” Connor said — which was technically true, they’d never met. “This area is open to the street and you have no signs posted stating it as private property, so legally we are not trespassing. We just want the dog — and if you threaten us one more time, I’m calling the police.” 

He pointed at his LED to remind her that androids could do that pretty much instantly. Well, every android but Connor, but she didn’t know that.

The gunshot was overwhelming at such close range and as fast as Connor registered it happening, his systems were telling him that he had been grazed across the head right near his LED. The world flashed white and he suddenly felt his balance go spiraling out of control. 

“I need backup!” The woman was shouting into her radio as she stepped away from them. “We’ve got an android on the premises! It’s with Hank Anderson!” 

“Connor!” Hank caught Connor around the waist and hauled him back the way they had come. A metal security gate started sliding shut ahead of them as Connor’s systems rebooted themselves. The guard behind them suddenly screamed and several gunshots were fired. 

Hank shoved Connor through the gate, barely slipping through himself. 

“SUMO! Come here!” Hank yelled back through the gate. The big fluffy dog bounded through the gate just in time, leaving a tuft of fur from his tail pinched in the metal bars. 

Connor started to sit up, dazed by the chorus of alarms and blinking warning letters clouding his head. There was a drippy blue trail of blood in the snow in front of him, which was only a foot from his face at the moment. 

“She actually shot me,” he said a bit indignantly. At least she hadn’t shot Hank, though — or Sumo. Speaking of Hank, they really needed to get out of there, call the cops in. Connor pushed himself to his feet, reaching to grab the ex-cop’s sleeve. “Hank.”

“You’re gonna be okay — I got you,” Hank was telling him shakily, hooking an arm around Connor and hurrying him back across the street, Sumo whining and circling them. There was a smear of red on his snout — whether it was his blood or the guard’s, Connor couldn’t tell. 

“Stop them!” The female guard was yelling behind them as Hank yanked the back seat door open and waved Sumo in. 

Connor looked back as guards started pouring out of the front gate, each clutching a rifle. He sincerely hoped the blood on Sumo belonged to the woman, especially since she clearly was still well enough to shout for the others. 

“Hank, get in the car,” Connor said quietly, pushing at Hank’s shoulder a little.

Slamming the back door after Sumo, Hank let go of Connor long enough to open the door for him and shove him inside. The sound of several bullets rang through the car as Hank ducked around to hop in the driver’s seat. The car fishtailed on the ice as they ripped past the small army of guards. 

“Fuck,” Hank growled, checking in his rear view mirror. Then he was glancing at Connor, scowled mixed with concern. “Are you alright?” 

Connor pressed a hand to his temple and it came away wet and blue. He blinked at it, frowning.

“I-it just grazed me. I’m sorry, Hank, I didn’t know they were so openly hostile. I never would have brought you there if I’d known,” he said, looking over at the man shakily. Hank could have died several times over in the past fifteen minutes, between the bullets and the traffic. That woman even pointing a gun at him had made Connor so angry he couldn’t describe it. He certainly hadn’t had a clear head, although he thought he’d spoken like he had. They really should call the police on the place…

Later, when Connor wouldn’t get blood all over the phone.

“Are you kidding me? YOU were the one they were screaming about. I don’t care who or what you’re looking for, Connor, stay the hell away from that place until I can get the cops there.” 

Sumo shoved his head between the seats with a whine, licking at Connor’s face with a big drool-covered tongue. 

Connor wrapped an arm up to hug around the dog’s neck clumsily, resting his head against Sumo. 

“Hank, they referred to you by name,” he said. “Like they were watching out for you. They didn’t even recognize me, I-I’m a thing to them, but you’re the enemy — a human who supports androids.” He patted Sumo’s neck, dabbing at his bleeding head again. “And the last human like that who worked for them was shot. That’s Jacob. He’s probably dead.” 

Brett could be invaluable in this case — he must have video memory of the shooting and of him and Jacob fleeing Alfreda. If the police chose to utilize it, that was.

“Why would they care if an android was there or not? What are they up to? And why the hell did the guy at the door point us back there when he could see your LED!” 

Licking Connor’s cheek, Sumo whined again. He had a bit of blue on his snout mixed in with the red.

“I’m a recording device,” Connor replied mildly. “I have footage of what just happened that we can hand over to the police, and they didn’t want me or it getting away from there intact. Brett says Alfreda was going to burn him to death, and that Jacob was shot for stopping them. Brett got away, and Jacob hasn’t been seen since, so it’s reasonable to conclude they’re trying to cover up Jacob’s murder. Nobody would have missed Brett, but Jacob is human.”

He leaned back in his seat and took a swipe of the red blood from Sumo’s snout, licking his fingers. Not dog blood — good.

“Ugh, Connor!” Hank groaned in disgust. 

Along with the human blood, though, was android blood that wasn’t Connor’s. It belonged to a GJ500. Since Brett had told him that his escape was more than 48 hours ago, there was no way it was related to he and Jacob’s escape. 

It made sense that Alfreda had encountered and harmed other androids, with their hostility, but it was still a disturbing thing to realize. That woman had probably murdered the GJ500 within the past day. Either it was on her, or Sumo had found the body in the loading zone. Who knew how many others were there?

“We need to file a report on them immediately, Hank,” Connor said. “There’s blood from another android here, recent blood. If we show them the recording of what happened to us and I tell them I want to press charges for being shot, the police will have to investigate the property.”

Wiping the blood off of his hands on his shirt, Connor pulled his phone out and sent Markus another text. 

_‘Will be back later, need to do something first. Sorry.’_

“Alright. But you need to get that hole in your head patched before we do anything. There’s some duct tape in the glove box.”  


* * *

  
“Remember, keep your eyes closed,” Kara told Alice as they knocked on the door to Tal’s room. “We’re almost to the surprise.” 

The little girl was cradled in Luther’s arms, and Kara had thought that since she was so comforted by Sumo before, it might make her smile to see the little kittens and their mother. She was pretty sure Alice had never seen kittens before, and wondered if the reaction might be similar to Connor’s. 

The door pulled open and Tal peered out at them with big dark eyes, eyebrows pinched together in worry. 

“Yes?” 

Kara gave him a reassuring smile. 

“Hi Tal. We wanted to come check on Lucy and everyone,” she said, giving a meaningful nod toward Alice. “And I was hoping you had time to talk with me a little. Could we come in?” Poor Tal looked so anxious, like he expected somebody to come after him. He was probably still worried about stealing the can of cat food, Kara guessed.

Tal stepped aside to open the door, gesturing them all inside. 

“Have you seen Markus? Is he still angry with me?” 

Luther headed past them, lowering down to sit by the box with a big smile. It was pretty unlikely that he’d ever seen kittens either. 

“He was called away to help someone else,” Kara admitted, apologetic. “I think he’s more concerned than angry, though. He doesn’t want anyone here to get in trouble, you’re all important to him.” She stepped over near the box of kittens, smiling down at them and then glancing at Luther and Alice. “These kittens are just a day or two old,” she said warmly. “Aren’t they cute?”

Alice’s eyes snapped open and she looked around quickly to see the kittens. Luther leaned her closer to the box, reaching a big hand in to pet one. 

“They’re very delicate. So be gentle, okay?” 

“Okay,” Alice agreed, also reaching a hand in to pet the kittens. Her face brightened with a smile as she rubbed one of the kitties’ exposed belly. “They’re so cute.” 

Tal stepped over and settled behind the box, smiling too. 

“Aren’t they amazing?” 

“Can I hold one?” Alice asked, looking up at Kara. 

Kara glanced at Tal, nodding. 

“Yes, as long as you’re very careful with it,” she said, reaching into the box to pet Lucy the cat. “Can’t she, Tal?” The kittens were so small and soft, but Kara knew that Alice would never hurt them. One of her hands was more coordinated than the other thanks to damage, though.

“Of course! You can hold Connor!” Tal dipped a hand into the box and pulled out a tuxedo colored kitten, sitting it very carefully into Alice’s hands. 

Luther helped her steady them as Alice moved the kitten to lean against her shoulder. The little girl looked like she might start crying with joy, snuggling the kitten and rubbing its tiny ears. 

He’d named a kitten after Markus before, and now Connor. Kara felt a little teary-eyed seeing how happy both Alice and Luther looked right now. Her family. She vowed she’d find the help that Alice needed, and then they’d go back to Canada where they had started to build a life. She patted Luther’s back and shot him a smile before stepping back to stand with Tal. Watching them with the fuzzy little black and white kitten, she spoke to Tal with WiFi to keep from interrupting them. 

_“Thank you for this. She’s been through so much lately — we all have,”_ she said silently. _“How long have you lived here, Tal?”_

Tal glanced her way with a sad smile, replying over WiFi as well. 

_“I was brought in on a truck a month ago. Markus renamed me the following day.”_

_“Do you like it here?”_ Kara asked. _“Do you plan to stay?”_ She was pretty sure most of the androids here didn’t know the first thing about how to survive on their own. They didn’t know how to be independent. Maybe they were also just too new to self-awareness to have any plans. Still, they must have thought about it.

 _“I plan to stay, yes. New Jericho is a nice place to live. I feel safer here than on the streets, that’s where I was before. Here I have a room to live in and nice people to talk to.”_ Tal smiled at her again. _“And Lucy, of course.”_

_“It’s good to have a place where you belong,”_ Kara agreed, returning the smile. _“New Jericho sounds like a big family. What do you usually do around here? Does Markus give anyone jobs to do while here?”_

The Jerrys had excused themselves from the room in the small hours of the morning, saying they had to go help repair some of the houses. She wondered if Markus had any sort of system for it.

 _“I help North in the morgue sometimes, otherwise Markus doesn’t want us out in the weather right now unless it’s an emergency house repair.”_

“He’s asleep,” Kara heard Alice whisper. The little girl was showing Luther the ball of fluff in her hands, still smiling. “Can we have a cat when we get home, Luther?” 

“I don’t see why not,” Luther replied easily.

Kara glanced at them and smiled. She would happily keep a pet if it made Alice this happy. Cats seemed sweet, if Lucy and her kittens were a typical example. 

Looking at Tal again, she replied silently, _“I could really believe that Markus is rA9. And North…Markus said that I might talk to her about YK500 parts. Since you work in the morgue, do you have any idea if there are any there? Not biocomponents — limbs, digits.”_ She held up a hand and waved her fingers to demonstrate as she said it. Alice couldn’t walk until she got a new foot, but having her hands less damaged would be a good start. 

_“I can check tomorrow. The morgue is kept locked most days. North could unlock it for us, but she’s very busy running the main house.”_

The kitten in Alice’s hands woke up suddenly and started mewing for its mom, clumsily moving its head. Luther took the kitten with his free hand and lowered it gently back in against its mother’s stomach. 

“Say goodbye to Lucy and Connor, Alice. We need to get you back in bed,” Luther told her, pressing a kiss to the top of Alice’s head. 

“Can we come back?” 

Kara gave Tal a grateful look and moved back over to stand with her family.

“I’m sure Tal wouldn’t mind another visit,” she said fondly aloud. “Maybe by next time the kittens will have their eyes open. I read kittens all have blue eyes at first.”

 _“Thank you, Tal. Don’t trouble North with this, just check whenever you can,”_ she added silently to the other android. 

“You’re welcome to visit, Alice.” Tal came over to open the door for them, smiling and adding to Kara over WiFi. 

_“It would be my pleasure.”_


	27. Targets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! You may have noticed already, but we wanted to mention it somewhere: this fic's rating has officially gone up from Teen to Mature. Why? After some consideration, we decided that a story with murder, gun violence, android corpses, crime scenes, lots of blood, and a whole lot of swearing (mostly courtesy of Hank) should be rated M. It makes sense, now it matches the game's rating, too. 
> 
> Thank you for reading our fic, for the kudos, for the comments. This is our first DBH fic and the encouragement is much appreciated! Without further ado, we hope you enjoy chapter 27. ♥

“Markus! I’m sorry! They seemed so genuine!” Nigel was saying, hurrying along at Markus’ side while they flew down the stairs and out the front door. 

“You don’t understand. There are people LOOKING for him! Where did they say they were going with him?” Markus snapped at him angrily. He slid to a stop in front of the main gate and turned to face Nigel. 

“But he knew them. Brett went with them willingly!” 

“Where? WHERE did they go?” 

“All they told us was that they had someone named Jacob and that they could take Brett to him. I swear, Markus. Please. Don’t be angry with me.” Nigel hesitantly put a hand on Markus’ arm, brown eyes misty. “I’m sorry. Let me come with you.” 

The familiar rumble of Hank’s old-fashioned car interrupted them. The black sedan pulled up outside the gate, Hank and Connor inside. Both looked weary, and as they waited for Ken to open the gate Markus realized he saw no light from Connor’s temple. His LED was covered up by something. Bandaids, several of them, with the edges stained blue.

That was an obvious way to hide that one was an android, Markus thought. As his eyes drifted to the black sedan, though, he hurried out to greet the duo. 

“Are those bullet holes in your car?” Markus asked, also noticing a bit of blue on Connor’s scarf. Lifting it away from the other android’s neck to check for wounds, Markus felt a jolt of panic. “You’re hurt!” 

“I’m okay,” Connor assured him, “The bullet just grazed me.” He looked guilty as he said it, meeting Markus’ eyes. “We went to Alfreda Security to look for the trail Brett said he and Jacob left.”

“Brett,” Markus breathed, suddenly remembering WHY he was rushing out to the gate. “Connor, two people showed up and led Brett off. They said they knew where his friend Jacob was.” The rest of what Connor had said sank in, and he paused to look at his friend. “You went to the crime scene without me?” 

It wasn’t important at that moment, Markus told himself. Brett’s life might be in danger. 

Connor stared at him.

“What? When? Alfreda tried to gun us down, Markus. Me, Hank, even Sumo,” he said urgently. “Brett has video in memory of the attack on Jacob — if they killed Jacob, they’ll destroy him to cover up the murder!”

Turning back to Nigel, Markus glared him down. Nigel was staring at Connor though. 

“You have no idea where they were going? None?” Markus demanded.

“They were taking him to the Detroit Emergency Center in midtown,” Nigel admitted reluctantly, eyes still on Connor. 

Markus stepped back over to Connor, grabbing both of his arms. 

“Stay here. North can help you with your head—” 

“No way we’re staying here!” Hank interrupted. “Those assholes tried to kill us!” 

Connor placed a hand on Markus’ shoulder. 

“What he said,” he said firmly. “Get in the car, Hank can drive us.” He turned and opened the front passenger door for Markus. Sumo was taking up most of the back seat.

Arguing would waste more time, so Markus climbed in. It was nice of Connor to get the door for him.

Nigel stood nervously next to the gate with Ken, wringing his hands. It wasn’t his fault he knew so little of the world. Markus felt bad for yelling at him. Nigel had been nothing but loyal to him since he arrived in New Jericho. 

“What if they didn’t really take him to the hospital?” Markus asked as soon as the other two were in the car. 

Connor clicked his seatbelt on in the back seat. 

“Then he’s probably already dead,” he said quietly. “This is the only lead we have, so we have to look into it. The police are going to investigate Alfreda after the report we filed, but if he’s there it’s too late for him.” He sounded certain of it.

Markus shifted around in his seat to look back at Connor. 

“I’m sorry. He was my responsibility.” 

“Damn straight he was,” Hank snapped. “What if it had been Connor? Would you just let some random creeps walk him off to God knows where?” 

“I wasn’t the one that let him leave. It was Nigel.” 

“One of the first fuckin’ thing kids learn is not to talk to strangers!” 

“It’s not just Nigel’s fault,” Connor said wearily, poking at the bandaids on his temple. “Ken had to open the gate. Brett had to agree to go. We keep trying to teach them to go out and get jobs and interact with human people, that not all humans are bad ones, and then they’re either too afraid or not enough.” 

He turned and put an arm around Sumo, petting his back gently. The plastic cone was no longer around the dog’s neck, Markus saw. 

Grumbling, Hank just shook his head. 

The Detroit Emergency Center wasn’t far. Nigel had told Markus that Brett left with his ‘friends’ about half an hour ago. If Markus hadn’t been hiding upstairs, he might have noticed on his own. Connor was right. Nigel wasn’t to blame, neither was Ken. It was on Markus. 

“I’m glad you three are alright,” Markus said to fill the silence in the car. 

“I’m glad you weren’t at that place with us,” Connor returned, sighing. “Or at the sunflower crime scene — someone wiped it clean and sanitized every inch of it, even the snow off the ground. There was no evidence about the attack to scan at all.”

“...You went to both crime scenes without me?” Markus asked, trying to hide the hurt that was in his voice. Did Connor not trust him anymore? After seeing Simon and Ralph holding hands, Markus had almost let himself think that could be him and Connor someday. Close with each other on a level that no one else could understand. A closeness like love. 

“Yes,” Connor answered guiltily. “I’m sorry. I…I just wanted to spare you from seeing any more death than you had to. Hank and I used to investigate scenes together, so I wasn’t taking a risk going alone.” He leaned against Sumo’s side, hugging the big dog and turning sad brown eyes down to the floor. 

One of the bandaids on his face was peeling up from him poking at it. If the bullet had done more than graze him, leaving to talk to Hank on the phone would have been the last time he and Markus spoke.

“I’ve already seen a lot of death,” Markus told him, gazing out the window. He was determined to tell Connor how much he cared for him before he was out of his sight again. 

It made sense that Connor would want to spend some time with Hank, especially if they had to look into a murder, but it was Markus’ people being killed. No matter how horrible the crime scene was, he needed to be there. He needed to witness the horrors and know the truth so that he could protect his people better. 

Hank pulled off of the road and drove them down into the parking garage for the hospital. 

“What do these assholes look like?” He asked as he slowed the car to pay at the booth. 

“Nigel said that one was a man and one was a woman. Both had brown hair and were dressed in normal street clothing like jeans and coats,” Markus reported. 

“There were dozens of people at Alfreda by the time we left,” Connor said quietly. “They could have sent two in street clothes. It would be better to look for Jacob as a patient by name, if he’s actually here. Brett never mentioned his last name, so I did a search for any Jacobs who were employed by Alfreda…” He tapped his phone screen and held it up, and Markus realized he had done the search on it.

Right. No WiFi. Markus took the phone and examined the screen. Two men named Jacob had worked at Alfreda. One was no longer employed there as of three weeks ago. 

“We’re looking for Jacob Brownell, then.” Markus passed the phone back to Connor as they parked. 

“If anyone asks, I’m his uncle,” Hank told them as he climbed out of the car. 

“Your face is very recognizable. All of ours are. We need to be careful.” Markus hurriedly opened Connor’s door for him. Now they were even. 

“Thank you…” Connor looked surprised at the gesture, stepping out quickly and turning to give Sumo a pat. “Be good and guard the car, Sumo,” he murmured worriedly. If these people had shot at the dog once, he had to be concerned they would do it again. 

“No, no. He’s coming with us.” Hank whistled and Sumo hopped out of the car and came over to him, tail wagging. Markus patting Connor’s back and followed Sumo to Hank. 

“What should we do if we find him?” Markus asked. 

Connor looked relieved that Sumo was coming along with them. He also stuck close to Markus, shoulder to shoulder with him as he tried to smooth down the bandaid on his temple. 

“See if Brett ever made it to him,” he said softly. “And if they’re both safe, as unlikely as that is…then we need to put Jacob into police protection or Alfreda could try to finish what they started.”

Hank made it to the front desk first, tapping the top to get the receptionist’s attention. 

“Hey, I’m looking for a Jacob Brownell. I’m his uncle. Is he here?” 

The receptionist looked them each over very critically, resting a hand under the edge of her desk. 

“Aren’t you Hank Anderson?” She asked at last. 

“Yeah. That’s me.” 

“I’m sorry, sir. I can’t let you see him. His company, Alfreda, warned us not to let you in.” 

Connor pulled his phone out, turning on the screen and holding it out for her to see. 

“Mr. Brownell’s employment with Alfreda Security was terminated three weeks ago, and we have reason to believe his life is in danger,” he said. “Alfreda is under police investigation, and them claiming him as an employee still is highly suspicious.”

She read the screen curiously, then looked back up at Connor. 

“Um.” Glancing at the door behind her, the receptionist leaned up to whisper to them. “Those two people with him were really weird. He’s on the fourth floor, room 87R. And oh my god, I know this isn’t the time, but on your way back down — can you sign my scrubs? I LOVE you three…and I’ll probably lose my job, so I’ll need something happy in my life after this.” 

Markus gave her a very strange look, then pushed off the desk and hurried to the elevator. 

“Uh, I’ll try to remember,” Hank told the woman before he followed Markus. 

“Thank you!” Connor told her quickly. He tucked his phone away in his pocket as he hurried after them, whistling for Sumo to follow. The giant dog lumbered into the elevator with everyone else the moment the doors opened.

It took almost a minute to reach the fourth floor. Markus led the way down the smooth white hallways to the right room. Several nurses looked their way and one doctor went straight to pulling his phone out to dial what Markus could only assume was 911.

The door to room 87R slid open to reveal a hospital bed with a big window behind it. A dark haired man was in the bed, looking sleepily up at Markus. 

“If I died, why am I seeing rA9? I’m a h-human,” the man said hazily. “I think you got the wrong room.” 

Connor stepped up beside Markus, scanning over the man for what kind of condition had landed him in the hospital.

“You aren’t dead, Jacob,” he said. 

On instinct, Markus grabbed Connor to pull him back as someone stepped out of the bathroom. 

Brett looked at them, then back out the door behind them, signing frantically. 

_No, please leave. It’s not safe._

_We were worried about you,_ Connor signed to him, visibly relieved to see him there and alive. _Where are the two who brought you here?_

“We should call the police,” he added aloud, “And keep the door shut until they get here.”

“Got it,” Hank said, shutting the door behind them. 

Sumo came over to sniff at Jacob, sitting two giant paws up on the bed before hopping up to join the injured man. 

“Good dog,” Jacob mumbled nervously, sinking into his covers. 

_They told me to stay here or they would kill Jacob. Please leave. If the cops arrive, they’ll kill him. Please!_ Brett signed extremely quickly. 

Markus was afraid to admit it, but he had learned sign language on his own. Some of what Brett was signing was guess work, especially at that speed. 

Connor frowned and immediately stepped over, closing the blinds on the big window behind Jacob’s bed. He did the same with the only other window in the room. 

“We should move his bed away from that spot,” he told Hank and Markus before turning back to Brett. _Unless they planted a bomb, they’ll have to come in here to hurt him now,_ he signed. _Why did they want you to stay here, Brett?_

Brett hesitated, wringing his hands and pacing to Jacob’s bed. Turning back to Connor, he signed a bit slower. 

_They offered me a trade. I get one more day with Jacob, then they will let him free once I’m gone._

“What?” Markus asked out loud. “They’re going to kill you.” He repeated it in sign language for Brett’s benefit. 

_Alfreda doesn’t get to decide if you or Jacob lives or dies,_ Connor added angrily. _They don’t own you anymore, Brett._

_Jacob saved me. He doesn’t deserve to die for it. I just want him to be okay,_ Brett signed back, dark eyes stormy. 

_He’ll be okay if you come with us. We’ll keep you both safe,_ Markus replied. 

The PC200 looked down at Jacob. The injured man was still too scared of Sumo to pet him, even though the Saint Bernard looked like he was settling in for a nap. 

_They have snipers outside,_ Brett told them after a moment of consideration.

 _Then we won’t go outside,_ Connor replied. _Until the police take them down._

“Hank, please let the police know about the snipers Alfreda has outside. They may want to send helicopters,” Connor said aloud, stepping up to the bed and waving Markus over. “Markus, help me move his bed away from where they last saw it in the window.”

“Got it,” Hank said again, already dialing on his phone. 

Markus hurried to help Connor move the bed, but the cords to the life monitoring equipment were too short to get very far. Knowing that the nurses would probably assume they just killed Jacob, Markus grabbed a handful of cords and yanked them out of the wall. 

“Who are you guys?” Jacob asked hazily, looking from Markus to Connor. 

Brett came over and rested a hand on Jacob’s arm, giving him a reassuring smile and a thumbs up.

Connor helped Markus move the bed over further toward the door.

“We’re friends of Brett’s,” he replied simply. “And we’re here to help you both get out of this.”

As soon as the bed was moved, he stood up and scanned over Jacob carefully, probably checking that his vitals were still stable.

“I-it might be all the painkillers, but I thought I heard you say snipers. Are there snipers?” Jacob asked, looking at Brett. His friend grimaced and nodded. The injured human struggled to sit up, taking hold of Brett’s arm for support. “Brett, listen. You gotta go. Do you understand me? These guys seem like they’ll take care of you. Don’t worry about me—” 

Glass shattered into the room as a chunk of the floor where the bed had just been blasted open, spitting dust up into the air. Sumo snarled, barking loud enough to echo out the freshly broken window. The shutters were snapped apart and dangling down, letting in icy gusts of wind. 

“Are you alright?” Markus asked, dragging Brett further away from the bed. He left the android next to Hank, who was pressed to the door and still on the phone, and ducked back over to check Jacob. The human practically jumped into his arms as he slid off of the bed to the floor, gritting his teeth as he landed on his feet. 

“Come here, Sumo!” Connor whistled for the dog, waving him over toward the door. Alfreda was unhinged. Threats were one thing — shooting into a hospital at the patient was quite another.

The Saint Bernard retreated over the bed to Hank and Connor, rumbling with a growl. The door to the room shook as someone pounded on the other side. 

“Detroit Police! Open the door!” A woman shouted from outside. 

“I just called you! Someone’s trying to shoot us!” Hank opened the door and shoved his phone away, waving angrily at the three cops outside. “There’s snipers trying to kill this man!” 

Spotting Hank, the woman in the front pulled out her radio and started talking to her unit about the snipers. At least she had believed him. 

Markus slipped under Jacob’s arm and hauled him out of the room. They couldn’t stay there. Why in the world did Alfreda want him dead so badly? What could he possibly know? 

A group of four more cops rushed past them, setting up around the door to Jacob’s room. 

“What should we do?” Markus asked, looking back to Connor and the others.

“We can’t leave until the sniper situation is resolved,” Connor said seriously, glancing back into the room. “The building’s probably already under lockdown.” He kept a hand on Sumo’s back to be sure he stayed close. “I suggest we get away from any windows, get Jacob whatever pain relief he still needs, and don’t let him out of our sight — we don’t know for certain that Alfreda doesn’t have people inside the building, too.”

It was all said in a very business-like way, but the RK800 looked uneasy. He kept glancing at Hank to be sure he was still within sight, too. This was the second time today that someone had shot at his family, Sumo included.

Markus agreed with a nod, picking Jacob up as he checked the rooms they passed. There were plenty of rooms to hide in, but most of them seemed to have windows. 

“Hey, we’ve got the snipers,” a police officer called to them, hurrying up the stairs with a pistol in hand. “If you’ll follow me, there’s an armored car waiting downstairs to get you safely back to the station.”

Connor exchanged a glance with Hank.

“That was very fast,” he said politely. “Are you sure you got them all?”

“That’s what the boss said. Follow me.” The officer led the way back to the elevator instead of the stairs, gun at the ready. For saying that they caught the snipers, he seemed to be on edge. 

A moment later, riding along in the sudden quiet of the cramped elevator, Markus let his thoughts drift to Connor. The peeling bandage on his head, the worried glances down at Sumo, those dark brown eyes… 

Even in such a dangerous situation, he found it hard not to think about him and Connor in place of Simon and Ralph. Holding hands and sharing smiles. After a day like this, Connor probably just wanted to make sure that his dad and his dog got home safe, not to hang around and listen to awkward confessions from Markus. 

“We shouldn’t go to the station,” Hank said suddenly, glancing at Markus. “We’d be safer at the complex.”

Connor immediately nodded. 

“We can give the police our statement later — they have the crime scene and the snipers to prove exactly what happened,” he pointed out, reaching over and tapping the elevator panel buttons to change the destination floor from the first level to the parking garage.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” the officer said, turning to push the button for the first floor again. Hank caught his arm to stop him, shaking his head. 

“No, THAT’S not a good idea. We’re goin’ home.” 

“Hank, you’re not a cop anymore. You’re a civvie. So are your plastic pals here. You need police protection until we know who we’re dealing with.” The officer shook Hank’s hand off and shook his head. 

“Shove your protection up your ass, Hector. I’ve been down to the station this week. Not one asshole down there wants to protect androids.”

Connor took a step closer to Hank, frowning. Markus wondered if he was even aware of it. 

“We’ve been shot at twice today by the same people. You have our first report on file,” he told Hector. “Alfreda Security is who you’re dealing with.”

The elevator dinged and Markus was the first out, checking to make sure no one was waiting to shoot them on the way to the car. 

As soon as he was satisfied that it was safe for Jacob, he came back to help him to the car. He glanced at Hector as they were leaving; the man still looked antsy. 

“We’ve got it from here.”


	28. Bodies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! No, author's notes every chapter aren't going to be a thing, there's just more news this time 'round. When we started to post this story, we had written about 70k of fic ahead, and had heaps of chapters to post. To keep from taking months to get them out there for people to read, we started out with a twice-a-week upload schedule. 
> 
> Now that we've reached closer to the end of our huge chapter reserves, the fic is going to step back to once-a-week uploads on Tuesdays only from here on out. There will still be a new chapter this upcoming Tuesday, but no chapter Friday. We're still writing at a rate that can keep up with weekly updates, so don't worry, we won't be stepping back any further than that. 
> 
> We've also updated the tags a bit, as the original ones were added before some of the later chapters were written. =)
> 
> Thank you for reading and commenting and enjoying our fic. ♥ Onward, to chapter 28!

Now that the shooting and tense situations were (hopefully) over for the day, Connor was trying to avoid thinking about how many different ways Hank, Sumo, and even Markus could have been killed. Instead he was focusing on a more immediate problem — the bullet graze damage on his head. After getting everyone settled in and calmed down over two humans being in their midst, Markus seemed relieved when Connor asked him if they could go somewhere quiet.

“Your room’s ceiling fell in, didn’t it?” Connor realized aloud, frowning.

“I fixed it,” Markus told him, opening the door to his room for them. 

Connor could see from the door that Markus had nailed several boards over the collapsed part of the roof to repair it. His room was very cold and dim, and had been stacked with boxes since the last time that Connor had visited. Markus perched on one of the new boxes, patting the one beside him. 

“I can take a look at your head, ” he offered, sliding his long coat off of his shoulders and sitting it aside. 

“Would you please? There isn’t a mirror, or I would do it myself,” Connor said, closing the door behind him before moving over to sit beside Markus. He felt the bandaids on his temple gingerly, looking troubled. 

“Here,” Markus murmured, gently peeling back the bandaids. Sitting them aside too, he frowned at the wound. “Your LED is broken. I can take the rest out.” Holding Connor’s chin with a hand, Markus started pinching at the LED.

Connor was a little nervous that it would affect his systems the way it had when he’d been shot, but besides a flicker to his vision, nothing seemed to happen. It was strange for an android to wince, wasn’t it? The LED came off with a sudden snap, and it didn’t hurt exactly, but Connor winced automatically. It was damage, however slight.

And now he had no LED. A piece of his original self was gone. Connor wasn’t sure how to feel about that yet.

Markus turned the small piece of the LED over in his hand, then sat it aside on a crate and faced Connor solemnly. 

“I’m glad Hank and Sumo are alright,” Markus began, pale eyes glancing away from Connor. “I know today was complicated, but I have something I need to talk to you about. It can’t wait. If anything had happened to you…” The deviant leader drifted off, bothered by his own words. 

Connor raised a hand to feel his right temple, no raised little circle of the LED there anymore to set it apart from the left. He knew that he looked sad, but he couldn’t control it. Of course Markus would want to talk about going to places like Alfreda without him.

“I’m sorry,” he said, focusing on the floor at their feet. “Markus, I didn’t go to investigate today without you because I would rather not have you along — it’s because I didn’t want you to be hurt. I know that you can handle pain, and seeing awful things, but that doesn’t mean that you should have to. I did it for you. And I’m glad you weren’t there to be shot at today. If one of us had to be shot, then I’m glad that it was me.” 

Resting a hand on Connor’s arm, Markus shook his head, eyebrow pinching sadly. 

“I’m not. Connor, if you died, I don’t know how I’d find my way anymore. Before the revolution, our people needed a leader. Someone to help them out of hiding and into the light. They’re out now. They have a lot to learn, sure, but there are lots of people here to teach them that. I’ve been more of a figurehead than an actual leader for a long time. You,” Markus moved his hand to take Connor’s, squeezing it and smiling distantly. “You helped me realize that I want a life too.” 

Connor blinked, placing his other hand on top of Markus’. 

“You do SO much for these people, Markus,” he said. “Don’t discredit yourself — you’re no figurehead, you’re still a leader. You just know when to step back and let your people stand on their own.” He looked down at their hands, Markus’ one captured in both of his, and smiled. “I admire you more than almost anyone. But selflessness shouldn’t mean giving up everything that’s just for you. I’m glad to hear you talking about what you want.”

His temple still felt odd. Maybe it was self-repairing. He tried to ignore it. Markus was more important by far.

There was a long pause while Markus watched their hands too, lost in thought. 

“…What do YOU want?” Marcus asked, gazing drifting away from Connor’s again. The other android’s smile had faded quickly.

Looking at his freckles, his mouth, Connor could think of a few things he wanted. Hank seemed to think Markus wanted those things, too — that it was so obvious anyone would be a fool not to notice it. 

Or they’d be Connor up until today.

Holding Markus’ hand tighter, he mustered his best confident tone and tried to speak as sincerely as he could.

“This. Holding your hand. Being near you. There’s more, but…I don’t want to want anything that you don’t want, too,” he said wistfully.

“I do,” Markus replied quickly, scooting in closer. “I want this too. I want to spend time with you, talk with you, take walks with you — and Sumo.” Markus finally looked at Connor, mismatched eyes taking in the damage on his temple all over again. There were tears in his eyes as he added, “Once we catch the killer, would you consider going out with me?” 

Connor couldn’t name the way he was feeling. It was something like shaky elation, like nervous happiness. Determined, he shook his head.

“You said it yourself, I could have died today. YOU could have died today. One sniper shot and there’s no ‘later when we aren’t busy,’” he said earnestly, looking Markus in the eyes. “So I don’t want to take time and consider. Markus, we’re already together — all we each have to do is stay.” 

He hoped it was the truth. Markus said he wanted this, too, so what else could he have meant?

Marcus stared back at him, slowly smiling. He nodded. 

“You’re right. What are we waiting for?” Markus leaned even closer, wrapping his arms around Connor’s shoulders and holding him tightly. “You’re my favorite person, Connor. Wherever you are, that’s where I want to be.” 

Connor hugged him tight, and such sweet words were putting him in real danger of crying happy tears. He didn’t want to alarm Markus, but he’d never been somebody’s favorite person before. Emotions were washing over him, ones that made him feel, for lack of a better word, fuzzy. A good kind of fuzzy, though.

Sitting up, he placed a hand on Markus’ cheek and looked into his eyes.

“I need to ask you something,” Connor said as bravely as he could.

“Anything,” Markus told him softly, eyes scanning over Connor’s like he was looking for something in particular.

Connor opened his mouth to reply, then shut it again, gaze lowering to Markus’ mouth. He was a little afraid to say it outright, but they were together, so it should be okay. Right?

“Have you ever kissed someone?” He got the words out finally, feeling his face heating up. “I never cared that I hadn’t before, but you make me want to try it.”

Markus shook his head, brushing his cheek against the palm of the hand that Connor had resting on his face. 

“I’ve never kissed anyone before. I’ve never wanted to…until now.” Markus leaned closer, brushing his lips over Connor’s. It was such a shy kiss that Connor had to wonder if it counted as one at all. 

Even that light touch of lips felt like an electricity passed between them, though. Connor might not have done this before, but he’d seen many examples, and kissing was not a one-sided kind of activity. 

Cradling Markus’ face in his hands, Connor pulled him closer and pressed their lips together again far less shyly than the other android had done. He wasn’t sure he did it right, but the electric tingle was there, and nervous delight was blooming in his chest. 

He sat back after a moment. Did Markus like this? He wanted Markus to like this, because he liked it already, and he didn’t want this to be the only time.

Apparently Markus did, too — he reached for Connor, pulling him back for another kiss immediately. 

The moment was interrupted by a loud knock on the door. 

“Connor? The cops called and want us to come and check out Alfreda’s place. Said there’s stuff we have to see. Is Markus in there with you?” 

It was nice that Hank hadn’t come barging into the room. 

Markus got up and went to open the door, peering out at the ex-cop. 

“Oh. Sorry. I thought Connor was with you,” Hank mumbled, casting a suspicious glance at him. 

“He is,” Markus said, stepping back and gesturing to Connor. “The Alfreda security raid was successful? That was fast. The public must be up in arms, or the police wouldn’t care.” 

“Uh, yeah, somebody leaked some footage of us gettin’ shot at.” Hank crossed his arms and pondered Markus for a moment, glancing at Connor afterward. That look was a very suspicious one. 

Connor was busy internally cursing whoever programmed realistic blushing into his design. Elijah Kamski, probably, damn him. 

His temple twinged the tiniest bit as he stood and stepped over to stand beside Markus. This was the first time Hank had ever seen him without his LED, Connor realized, and as tiny a thing as it was, it made him self-conscious. 

“My LED wasn’t functioning anymore, so Markus removed it for me,” he explained, even though Hank hadn’t commented on it. Clearing his throat, Connor added quickly, “We can go to Alfreda. Markus should come along. If it’s about New Jericho then he should see whatever it is, too.”  


* * *

  
Markus paused outside the digital crime tape, looking up at the tall building in front of them. Alfreda Security. Several cops were milling around the bottom, talking quietly and entering things into their tablets. 

Whatever horrible things Alfreda had been up to, at least they had been stopped. Markus had felt angry on the drive there. Furious that the cops only now did something when Brett had made it obvious that Alfreda had been discriminating against androids long after the revolution. Humans like Hank and Jacob getting shot at had made them finally listen. Of course.

_In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends._

Markus thought of the quote as he stepped through the crime tape. The longer humanity tolerated violence against androids, the more resentful androids would become. Escaping slavery left a gap between the two races as it was. Someone had to start building a bridge. 

“Markus? Can you follow me please?” An officer stepped up to greet him, sticking her arms behind her back. Markus recognized her from the hospital. 

He gave her a nod and the policewoman led the way through a sliding metal gate to the loading area beside the skyscraper. 

Connor and Hank trailed after him, the RK800 quiet and tense. Alfreda had to remind him of being shot at, but there was something else, too. He’d been quiet since Hank arrived at Markus’ room. Now he didn’t say much, but kept close to the human and other android all the same. 

The officer led them past a large unmarked semi truck and to the bottom of a concrete ledge. It had round metal steps sticking out of it and bright yellow caution stripes around the top. It was a loading platform for trucks with a big shuttered door at the top. The cop gestured to the steps. 

“They’re all yours. If you need a van to move them, we’ve got one standing by.” She turned to go, then looked back, troubled. “I’m really sorry.” Adjusting her hat, she left the three of them standing there. 

Markus looked up at the raised platform, wondering what lay beyond the shutters. With how the officer was acting and how damaged poor Brett was, it had to be something horrible. 

Bracing himself, Markus climbed lightly up the metal steps and waited at the top. It was his responsibility to deal with whatever was inside, but he hoped that Connor would go with him. 

“This is the area that the guards shot at us to keep us from going into,” Connor informed him quietly. He was indeed climbing up right after Markus, stepping up beside him and looking at the door warily.

Two large locks lay next to it, cut open. The cops must have closed the door again after they saw what was inside. 

Markus wanted to take a moment, or to put an arm around Connor and forget this place existed at all. Instead he stepped up and gripped the shutter’s handle, yanking it open. 

The cold metal clanked loudly as it slid up to the roof. The room inside was dimly lit by bar lights around the ceiling, revealing rows of benches along the walls. 

Sitting stiffly on the benches were around thirty androids, all still as death. Markus couldn’t recognize a single model. Their faces were all unique. After a second, he realized that their features had been modded, not removed. The Traci sitting nearest to him had a face that was modeled after an actress. 

The androids all had systems running — which was the only reassurance that they weren’t dead. Stepping in to put a hand on the Traci’s shoulder, Markus looked down into her vacant eyes. 

“You have to wake up now,” he said, doing the same thing he had done thousands of times. But this time…it didn’t work. The Traci sat there still staring off into space. Markus slowly lifted his hand from her. 

Connor was already scanning her, the grim look on his face offering no reassurance. He lifted one of the Traci’s hands and gripped it in his own, concentrating. 

“There’s no-one inside,” he said, stunned. Sweeping a glance over the others on the benches, he added softly, “They’re…they’re dead.”

Moving from the Traci and following the benches of still forms, Markus looked from face to face for any sign of movement. 

“Hello,” a voice said brightly. Markus spun around to find a KR200 sticking a hand out towards Connor. “I am your new personal assistant, protected by Alfreda Security. Alfreda,” the man tipped his head stiffly to the side and pulled on a hollow smile. “The most reliable security available.” 

He sat back up straight, his expression falling away. “For English, say English. Para el Español, diga Español por favor.” 

Connor shook the KR200’s hand politely, no doubt trying to probe his memories at the same time. After a moment he let go of the hand and stepped back over near Markus, shaking his head.

“From my scans, they’ve all had any neural biocomponents removed,” he said softly. “The people they were are dead — they’re just bodies that move.”

Markus looked around them. Thirty more Androids dead. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he just nodded to Connor. 

“There’s so many of them,” he whispered. 

Alfreda had been taking androids and removing their biocomponents. Where were they? Could the androids be repaired? 

Logic told him that Alfreda wouldn’t keep the parts. Why would they? They had the bodies, they didn’t need the minds. 

Connor slipped a hand into his, squeezing it. 

“The police will turn over any androids or biocomponents to us,” he reminded Markus, brown eyes so sad. As unhappy as he’d been to see the ‘functioning dead’ on the benches, seeing Markus upset seemed to pain him more. “We stopped them from hurting Brett and Jacob again — and anyone they would have hurt in the future. This case will start more investigations, stop more murders. They didn’t die in vain, Markus.”

Markus lifted Connor’s hand and slipped under his arm to hug him, pressing his face into the other man’s scarf. He hadn’t meant to upset Connor, he just couldn’t keep the hurt off of his face. 

“We should move the bodies. I don’t want to leave them here,” he told Connor at long last. 

Connor was still hugging him tight, but nodded.

“Standby mode first, if they still have it. They’ll scare the people at the complex,” he sighed. “There’s no hiding it from them forever, but they don’t need to see more death firsthand.” Markus couldn’t help remembering what Connor had said about trying to spare Markus from seeing more of that himself.

Markus glanced up and saw that the KR200 was still standing there, waiting for commands. Stepping out of Connor’s arms, Markus went to the stiff android. 

“Standby mode,” he said hesitantly. 

“For security purposes, this unit no longer has a standby mode. Standby mode leaves this unit vulnerable to manipulation,” the KR200 stated blankly. “Please refers to the manual included with your purchase.” 

Connor turned toward the KR200 and cast a sidelong glance at Markus. The little damaged spot on his temple had not repaired itself, Markus noticed, even with the LED gone.

“Follow us, then. We’ll take you to the place that we want you to guard,” Connor told the KR200, starting back down the steps they’d climbed to get here.

He exchanged a glance with Hank at the bottom, then continued on, calling to the policewoman standing over near the entrance to the loading area. “We’re definitely going to need that van.”


	29. Witness

Standing and watching Markus move the bodies from the window felt surreal. Simon would have been at his side in a second if he thought he’d be useful. As it was, he could just stand by and watch from upstairs, vision partly blocked by the light of the fire barrel behind him on the frosty glass. 

Simon had expected more people to die just by the shape that Brett had been in when he arrived. The poor android had been burned beyond repair, a lot like Ralph had been. Simon pulled his gaze away from the window, spotting the WR600 as he added more old wood to the fire. 

“Thirty more bodies,” he said, more to himself than Ralph, turning back to the window. “Markus will blame himself.” 

Ralph kept glancing over his shoulder at the window. He’d jumped right back to twitchy and nervous the moment he’d heard about Alfreda. Apparently the security company’s murder of androids and attempted murder of several humans was all over the news. There hadn’t been much choice but to tell Ralph about it with North coming upstairs just to fill Simon in on what was going on. 

Right now Ralph was stirring the fire with a piece of a board, shaking his head.

“Markus, it wasn’t Markus — it was HUMANS,” he muttered, LED flickering red. “It’s always the humans…”

Simon braced a hand on a nearby box and slowly made his way back to the lounge chair. It was very cold outside, especially now that the sun was going down. Aside from all the news on Alfreda, Ken had sent Nigel around the complex to let everyone know that the storm was picking up over the weekend and it was going to be dangerously cold outside, even for fully operational androids. 

“Not all humans are bad, Ralph. I think the good ones are just scared of us,” Simon told his friend, his legs threatening to fail him as he reached the fire barrel. 

Seeing this, Ralph quickly stepped over to put one of Simon’s arms over his shoulders, supporting him. 

“Except for yours,” the WR600 said quietly, looking down at the fire. “Mandy.” He shifted on his feet, which moved Simon along with him a bit, and frowned. “Unless she IS scared. Or isn’t good.”

Simon chuckled, patting Ralph’s shoulder. 

“Mandy’s good. She’s very nice.” Using Ralph for support, the blond carefully sat himself back on the lounge chair. He didn’t breath, but he felt the need to sigh, so he did. His body was telling him that a lot of systems were in bad shape. 

His temperature regulator was completely off now, which had happened shortly after North left the room. Hopefully it came back on once Simon was seated for awhile. He didn’t want to make anyone worry with the storm moving in. Ralph would keep the fire going for him. 

“How are you doing?” Simon slid his hand down to take Ralph’s, giving the other android a smile. 

The WR600 blinked at him, holding his hand tightly. 

“Ralph? Ralph’s fine,” he said quickly, glancing at the window again, then the door. He focused on Simon again, snapping back to it like he’d just remembered he was there. “Maybe…maybe he doesn’t like for North to visit,” he admitted, frowning. “She hates Ralph.”

Simon wanted to disagree, but that was a borderline lie. It was hard to say if North would ever come around to liking Ralph, especially if they never caught the real killer. 

Instead Simon focused on hauling his legs up onto the lounge chair. They felt much heavier than usual, which told him that standing by the window had probably burned through a lot more power than expected. The temperature in the room had dropped a degree or two as the sun sank lower. 

“I’m sure once North sees you didn’t hurt the others, she won’t hate you anymore,” he offered.

“It’s not just her. Ralph’s not welcome here,” Ralph replied, sitting on the edge of the lounge chair near Simon’s legs. He fidgeted with his fingers, looking at their mismatched white base and the skin half-covering it. “He would like to go outside. He wants to plant flowers and trees. Ralph likes dirt and grass and the sun. But it’s not safe, it’s never safe. It’s never going to be safe with all the humans out there.”

Unless they somehow made a whole settlement of only androids, that meant Ralph was sticking pretty close to this room forever. He looked sad about that.

“Once all the snow melts, let’s make this place home. We can put flowers, trees and grass. It’ll be beautiful.” Simon smiled, though sadly, squeezing Ralph’s hand in his. He was right about the humans. It was hard to keep faith that one day humans and androids would coexist, but he had to try. “We have to learn how to live with the humans — just like they have to learn to live with us.” 

Ralph quickly shook his head, turning to grab Simon’s other hand as well. 

“No, it’s not worth it! Ralph doesn’t want to live with them, Ralph just wants to live,” he insisted. “Ralph doesn’t want them to die, just to go away. Just go away and leave us alone. But they won’t do that.” 

The knock on the door was light, but it made Ralph flinch. He glanced at it quickly, getting to his feet. 

“Who’s there?” The WR600 called uneasily. The door opened a crack, and he tensed, stepping closer to Simon. 

“It’s Connor,” came a calm voice from outside. “Markus is with me. Can we come in?”

“Come in,” Simon told him, tugging on the hand of Ralph’s that he still held. “Stay with me.” Simon patted the end of the lounge chair with his free hand to invite Ralph to sit back down. 

The other blond did so, scooting closer as Connor and Markus stepped into the room and closed the door behind them. They stepped right over to stand near the fire barrel, Connor looking Simon over in what was almost certainly a scan. That’s what made Simon realize that his LED was no longer flickering at his temple — it was gone, and he had a small blue graze mark where it had been.

“How are you feeling?” Connor asked politely. “North says she’s been checking on you.”

“I’m fine, and if you see her, can you please tell her to stop? There’s nothing to worry about.” 

“I brought this for you. The weather is supposed to be very bad for the next couple of days.” Markus circled the barrel, holding up a large moss green blanket he had been carrying. It was thickly woven, if a little worn. 

The deviant leader moved the coat off of the lounge chair, unfolding the blanket and draping it heavily over both Simon and Ralph’s laps. 

“I’ll bring you up some firewood, too,” Markus added. 

Simon nodded in thanks, lost in thought. Seeing Markus moving bodies for the last hour, Simon knew that his friend would be blaming himself. He couldn’t decide if it would be mean to bring it up, since Markus seemed to be trying to keep a positive appearance at the moment.

Ralph poked at the blanket a little. Connor definitely intimidated him, but he was sticking close to Simon instead of retreating across the room or around the chair. That was something, at least.

“Hank and I went to the alley where the killer attacked you,” Connor told Simon. “There’s no evidence there — someone wiped it completely clean before we arrived. So now, I need your help.” He turned to Ralph as he said the last. Ralph immediately started shaking his head.

“Ralph told you everything he knows! You know he didn’t do anything wrong — you know it,” he said, the words all tumbling out rapid-fire. “You know it. You do.”

“Connor, please. He’s been through this over and over again.” Laying an arm over Ralph’s shoulders, Simon pulled him closer. 

“It’s not like that,” Markus assured them, slipping his coat back on. 

Connor held up a hand. 

“I’m not viewing you as a suspect,” he assured Ralph. “You’re a witness.” 

Ralph had quieted when Simon hugged him, but started to shake his head again.

“Ralph told you everything! You tied him up and threatened him, remember? H-he thought you would hurt him, he told you everything, everything…”

Connor sighed a little. 

“I’m not here to interrogate you, Ralph,” he promised, looking a bit guilty. “I’m asking for your help. Your words don’t tell me as much as what you actually saw would — if I could scan your memories, I could use my forensics programming to analyze them for evidence.”

“No,” Ralph replied immediately. He looked downright alarmed at the idea. “You’re asking, that means Ralph can say no!”

“Even if it might help find the one who tried to kill Simon?” Connor asked, raising his eyebrows. “I thought you would want to help with that.”

“I’ll do it,” Simon told Connor with a frown. “My systems were failing, but I must have seen something.” 

“If Ralph does it, we can use it to clear his name. If he saw your attacker, it obviously wasn’t him doing the attacking.” Markus looked to Ralph with pleading eyes. “I know you didn’t do anything. We just need proof for the others, and for the police.” 

Ralph frowned too, twitchy and stressed out. He couldn’t seem to decide who to keep an eye on, Connor or Markus, so he just glanced between them back and forth.

“Ralph would like to help,” he began softly, the frown fading. “He just can’t. He can’t have you in his head.” He eyed Connor uneasily, leaning closer to Simon again. “No…nonono, not you. It’s not — it’s not that Ralph’s bad, he’s not bad, he means no harm, but sometimes he does things…h-he doesn’t want you to see. Not you.” 

Connor looked somewhere between intrigued and apologetic. He held up his hands.

“I don’t want to poke around in your mind, either,” he assured the WR600, “But that’s where the memories of the attack are. As long as you aren’t fighting it, a memory probe shouldn’t hurt at all. It would be over in seconds.”

“Ralph CAN’T,” Ralph said again, bringing a hand up to his damaged temple like he was protecting his thoughts. “H-he doesn’t trust you.”

“You trust me, though, right?” Simon asked, hugging Ralph gently. “Maybe I can do it.” He looked up at Markus and Connor. “Can I do it? Would it work?” 

Connor blinked. 

“It adds a few steps,” he said, “But that would probably work. You would have to actually copy the memories you viewed into your own memory, and then I would have to probe your memory in turn to view them.” 

He looked at Markus and shrugged, then turned back to the two androids on the lounge chair with a smile. “If Ralph would be willing to do it that way, then that’s a good solution. Good idea.” 

Ralph sat back to look up at Simon in concern.

“Ralph trusts you, but he doesn’t want you to get hurt.”

“It won’t hurt him,” Connor reminded them both, sighing. “I promise, none of this will hurt anyone, except maybe our murderer if this leads to his capture.”

Ralph fidgeted, glancing at Simon. 

“Okay. Okay, Ralph’s in,” he said uneasily. “It was bad, though. Simon might not want to see.”

“That’s why I wanted you to just show me,” Connor muttered. Ralph ignored him.

“There’s a lot of bad in my head too, so that’s okay,” Simon replied. With the revolution and his life before becoming a deviant, there were plenty of horrible memories lurking in the corners. Hopefully Ralph would be able to just think of the attack and direct him there. Simon looked at Ralph and smiled. “Where do we start?” 

Ralph glanced at Connor uneasily in turn, wringing his hands. 

Connor seemed to perk up at the idea of teaching them a new skill, eyes bright.

“It’s easy. You just hold out your hand,” he instructed Ralph. The WR600 glanced down at his hands, then held his left out to Simon dutifully. 

Connor turned to Simon quickly, holding up his right hand. He deactivated the skin on it as he did so, revealing delicate white fingers and joints. 

“Then you do this and take his hand. Once you’re in his memories, all you have to do is focus on what time, what day — or search for an image, like the chain link fence.” He held up his other hand, too, looking between Simon and Ralph seriously. “The ONLY way this will hurt is if Ralph tries to lock you out of his memories, so try to think of it as teamwork. You’re both digging up memories for the case, to catch this killer. Got it?”

Ralph looked down at his hand, then back to Simon. He nodded seriously. 

“Got it.”

Removing the skin coating on his hand, Simon gently took hold of Ralph’s hand, lacing his fingers through the other blond’s. 

“I had just made it to the fence. I could see the flower shop,” Simon told his friend, hoping to direct Ralph’s thoughts. The entire encounter was a blur of flashing warnings about shutting down and a hazy heavy feeling all over. It had felt like his body couldn’t lift its limbs anymore. Even with all of that going on, Simon had been worried about Ralph at the time.

The WR600 sighed. 

“Ralph just bought the sunflowers,” he said quietly, squeezing Simon’s hand and closing his eyes. Simon saw the damaged skin on the hand he held wash away to battered white and gray joints, and then abruptly he wasn’t in a house anymore.

He was outside.

It was cold, and he was turning around to a trail of footprints in the snow. They led back to a very familiar chain link fence. 

Judging by the darkness across the whole left side of the world, this was definitely Ralph’s memory Simon was in. Even the right side with the undamaged eye didn’t see colors right — there was a strong wash of darkness bleeding over from the damaged eye, tinting everything a bit black and blue. 

His focus fuzzed out and back in every now and then, too. There was some alert blaring in the back of his head about damaged biocomponents, and Simon got the impression it had been droning on for a very long time. It was just more noise.

Just as he’d gotten his bearings, the memory jumped. He was in the alley, grabbing at somebody on the ground. Blond, bleeding blue, too still. Himself, Simon realized. He looked faded like everything else, but the big two-pronged metal thing lodged in his torso was hard to miss. It had some kind of tube attached to the back, and when he glanced to follow that, he saw a dark figure holding whatever it led to. It was about the size of a vacuum cleaner.

Another jump. Somebody was shouting. No, two somebodys. No words registered, just incredulous anger and alarm. There were two figures now, and the pronged weapon was sticking out of one’s chest. There was screaming, panic — the other figure was frantically hitting buttons on the device. The light hit an actual face for a split second.

He — well, Ralph, didn’t care about that. He was snatching up the thirium pump from its blue-stained spot near the fence and cramming it back into Simon’s chest. Words DID register from him, but they were a rapid-fire non-stop stream of babbling. That plus the screaming plus the chatter of the “damaged biocomponents” alarm that never went away was a lot. He felt dizzy.

Or did Ralph feel dizzy? 

Simon caught a word here and there. Sunflowers. Simon. SIMON. Stab them. Kill them, they’re bad! Nonono save Simon help Simon they’ll kill us they’ll kill us run run run RUN…

A blink, and he was in the thick of things again, stabbing the first shadowy figure square in the chest with the pronged device. A scream and a gush of blood — blue? Red? It was in the middle of his vision, it looked blue either way — and the second attacker arrived, slamming Simon — Ralph — in the side to knock him away. 

Something shifted. Where was he now? 

A big glowing touchscreen filled his vision, squares full of beautiful blossoms and leaves. 

He reached and touched the sunflowers. Maybe Simon would like those.

Simon smiled sadly, opening his eyes to bring himself back to the present. Ralph’s memories were so scrambled. It was hard to discern what went where in the timeline of things, but Simon was confident that Connor could figure it out. It had been his profession, after all. Releasing Ralph’s hand slowly, Simon pulled him into a small hug instead.

“I loved them,” he told Ralph quietly before shifting in his chair to look up at Connor. “I’ve copied the files over. I think they’ll be useful.” Simon held up his hand to the ex-detective. 

Ralph said nothing, sitting back so he didn’t interrupt them, but he looked bemused. He had to know Simon was talking about the sunflowers — they’d just been looking at them seconds ago.

Connor nodded and reached out with his still-white right hand. He didn’t hold Simon’s hand, though — he reached past it and gripped his wrist carefully. Simon felt a little jolt, and the very brief but vivid sensation of somebody else paging through his stored memory. It was over in seconds, as promised, and Connor let go of him. 

“Thank you — both of you.” He looked at Ralph, too, and smiled. “I’ll start analyzing the information immediately!”

Ralph gave a quick nod, mumbled something under his breath, and immediately went to add more wood to the fire.

“Thank you,” Markus told them, patting Simon’s shoulder on the way to the door. “Take it easy for awhile. I’ll bring up some firewood for you both, but first I need to get everyone together for an emergency meeting before the storm. It’s going to be dangerous.” 

“Markus,” Simon called after him. The deviant leader glanced at him as he continued, “It wasn’t your fault. Please remember that.” 

Markus’ only response was a small nod, then he stepped out of the room with Connor in tow. 

Simon lay back in the lounge chair, huddling under his new blanket and watching Ralph tend to the fire. The approaching storm sounded like it was going to cause some damage to the complex. Hopefully they could afford to stay in their own room through it all. At least after this meeting no one would be out in the weather for Markus to worry about. He had enough on his plate.


	30. Talking

Connor’s mind was racing. There was finally some concrete evidence for this case, but he didn’t have time to even open the files yet. New Jericho was preparing for the storm, androids all around him nailing boards over windows, moving the damaged to warmer rooms, talking in a chorus of excited and anxious voices.

In the middle of it all, Connor was trying to find Hank. He’d tried calling and texting, but the weather seemed to already be having an effect on the cell phone service — neither went through. If Hank was here when the storm hit, he could be stuck in New Jericho without food or other supplies. Sumo, too, Sumo was still with him…

Markus was right in the thick of the crowds, directing his people, going from house to house to warn them. Connor admired him more than ever. More than admired, too…but if he thought about kisses and ‘you’re my favorite person’ right now, he’d distract himself from the task at hand. 

“Find Hank,” the RK800 murmured to himself. Maybe he was in another house. Hank had said something about checking on Jacob, Brett’s injured human friend who had come to the complex with them. He would fare even worse in this weather than Hank if he got stuck here.

It took a few androids, but Connor finally asked someone who knew which house and room Jacob was in. He hurried his way there, trying to calm down his scattered thoughts. All that mattered right now was finding Hank. Finding him, making sure he was safe. Maybe asking him for kissing advice. 

Maybe later on that last one…

Knocking on the beat up wooden door to Jacob’s room — which was actually Josh’s room, apparently — Connor sighed and tried not to think of Markus.

“Hank?” He called through the door, not really waiting for a reply to the knocking. “Are you in there?”

The door creaked open crookedly on its hinges and Hank hung his head out, pulling on a weary smile. 

“Connor. I was wondering where you were at.” The old detective stepped back into the room, taking a seat heavily on a wooden crate that was set up beside an actual bed. Jacob was in the bed, his mouth full as he chewed a big bite from the burger in his hand. He gave Connor a small wave. 

Sumo was laying at the base of the crate, his large fluffy head lifted and his tail wagging at the sight of Connor. 

Brett was also there, on an old CyberLife crate on the other side of Jacob’s bed. It didn’t seem like he noticed Connor come in until Jacob waved, then he glanced and smiled brightly. 

Closing the door behind him, Connor smiled and came over to scratch Sumo’s ears, petting his head. He sent a warm smile and a sign language _Hello again_ at Brett, too. It was good to see him looking happier and more relaxed now that his friend was safe.

“I was helping Markus with a lead on the case,” Connor explained to Hank. A quick scan of the room revealed a takeout bag with hamburgers in it beside Hank’s crate, along with a shopping bag of canned dog food and a large thermos that was almost certainly full of coffee. 

Connor raised his eyebrows. 

“I came here to suggest that you get home before the storm hits, but it looks like you’re planning to stay.”

“Eh, haven’t done a stakeout in a long time. Right, Jacob?” 

“Uh, yeah. I didn’t actually DO stakeouts as a guard…” 

Hank just shrugged a shoulder. 

“Now that all of the drugs are out of my system, I wanted to say thank you,” Jacob said as he shifted to sit up more in bed, cringing with every small movement. Brett rearranged his friend’s blankets to cover him again, then stood to face Connor. 

_Thank you,_ he signed shortly, dark eyes misty.

Connor smiled at them both. 

“You’re welcome. Markus and I did promise we would help you,” he spoke and signed for Brett as well. “And you started it all by helping each other. I’m glad you’re both going to be okay.”

Thinking back on the day they had had was a stress, a relief, and infuriating all at once. It was a wonder that Hank and Sumo were still okay by now, too, after being shot at. And Markus…

Connor sighed, focusing back in on the present. “Markus is moving people around before the weather hits — you might end up with company in this room,” he told them apologetically.

“Won’t bother me,” Hank said, propping himself back against a stack of crates behind him. Sumo sat up long enough to lick at Connor’s hands, then he settled back onto the floor with a tired sigh. 

“That’s alright with me. I figured sooner or later, I’d have to go back downstairs to leave.” Jacob wrapped his half eaten burger up and sat it aside. “This storm sounds crazy. The news said it’d break records!” 

Brett was watching Jacob intently and Connor realized that he was reading Jacob’s lips. He had seemed to have trouble doing that when they first met, so who knew how much of Jacob’s comment he understood.

Connor nodded to Jacob.

“Yes, and we’re probably going to get snowed in. It’s okay, though, we’ll be fine as long as we keep warm,” he assured the ex-guard. Glancing at Brett again, he signed as he spoke for the next part. “I thought of something you could use here. I’ll be right back!”

He gave Hank a quick nod, starting for the door. 

“Hank, my phone has no reception. Don’t worry if you can’t reach me on it.” 

With that, he stepped outside, already plotting where to find what he needed. The house was still bustling with activity. The windows in the front of the house had been shut and covered with a combination of hanging blankets and battered boards. Liam stopped at his side suddenly, scanning over the crowd with his single soft blue eye. 

“Hello Connor.” The brunette looked up at him, blinking slowly. “You removed your LED.”

“It got damaged,” Connor explained. He’d almost forgotten about the little twinge on his temple. For some reason, having somebody point it out made him feel self-conscious. Why he wasn’t self-repairing over it was another question; filling the bullet graze in might be necessary before his skin would cover it up. 

Thoughtfully, Connor gave Liam a quick scan. No good. He turned and looked over the crowd in the big main room, inwardly flipping through hundreds of biocomponent names in seconds. Too old, too new, too damaged…

There.

“Excuse me, Liam,” Connor told the other android politely, starting across the room. There was a small crowd of four EM400s all holding up a piece of plywood while a fifth nailed it into place over a broken window. “Jerry!”

Five heads all turned, the ginger androids smiling brightly when they saw who it was. 

“Connor! You’re still here,” the one with the baseball cap said. Beside him, the one with only one arm nodded.

“We wondered if you were going home before the storm hit.”

“It’s nice that you’re staying to help us!” A third with absolutely no distinctive features chimed in. 

Connor scanned over the group again now that he was closer. Perfect.

“Actually, right now I’m hoping that you can help ME,” He told the Jerrys. EM400s got downright giddy when someone actually answered that ‘how can I help you?’ question — they sat down the plywood and all stood at attention eagerly.

“What can we do for you?”  


* * *

  
New Jericho was a flurry of activity. Kara and her family had watched as the Jerrys were called to work fortifying the houses of the complex against the coming storm, and it felt wrong to sit by and do nothing themselves. The Jerrys assured Kara that keeping Alice safe and warm was the most important thing. Without her temperature regulator functioning, the little girl needed to be cuddled up close to either Kara or Luther at all times to stay warm enough.

Once the sun went down, even the temperature inside the house started to dip far too low. The fire in their room didn’t do much, either. Kara was about to go outside and check on the Jerrys when Nigel the VS600 showed up and told her they all had to move to the main house as quickly as possible.

The crunching snow and flashlight beams on the walk reminded Kara uncomfortably of the march to catch the last bus to the Canadian border. This time it wasn’t just her and Luther and Alice, though; several other androids were walking with them, Tal among them with Lucy and her kittens carried in their box close to his chest. He’d put a blanket over the top to try to keep them warm, and kept fretting and patting it and talking to them through it.

“We won’t all fit into Markus’ house,” Kara whispered to Luther, glancing around at the small crowd walking with them. She could see flashlight beams in the distance, other groups coming from other houses. They were all headed to the main house.

Just how bad was this storm going to be?

“I can wait in another house,” Luther assured her with an easy smile. He had Alice laying over his shoulder, bundled up in the beige blanket that Markus had brought them earlier. Snow was swirling around them with every wave of cold air sweeping through the complex. 

Markus’ house, the large colonial style home directly inside of the gates to New Jericho, had a couple of androids waiting on the porch, directing everyone as they arrived. Kara recognized them as Nigel and a TE900 that she hadn’t heard the name of, but had seen around the complex. Nigel aimed his light over them. 

“Hello again. Are those the cats?” 

“Yes,” Tal replied quickly, carefully going up the steps with the box hugged close. “Are we in the main room?” 

“No, your group’s going upstairs to the room with the humans. I’m sorry,” Nigel added heavily. The TE900 echoed the nod. 

“H-humans?” Tal stammered. 

Kara patted his shoulder, smiling as they stepped inside the house. It was bustling in the main room, androids hurrying to and fro. A gaggle of Jerrys were boarding up windows.

“It’ll be okay, Tal. One of them is a friend of mine. He likes animals, too,” Kara assured Tal. “He has a…dog…” Looking at the box of cats, she realized that might not be such a great thing after all.

“DOG?” Tal gasped, turning the box of kittens further away. “No! Can’t I stay somewhere else? Anywhere!” 

“Markus instructed us to place you there. If you want to go somewhere else, you’ll have to talk to him. Please just go to where you’re supposed to. We have a lot of people to move around, Tal.” Nigel waved for them to move on and Tal did so with his head hung over the box. 

Crunching up the icy steps, Luther ducked to make sure that Alice’s head cleared the door and continued inside, stepping past Kara.

The moment they were inside, androids were brushing past them. Liam stepped out to stop Tal, peeking into the box. 

“Are these the cats? My old family had a cat. His name was Purrphy.” 

“Do you have another room for us to stay in? The human room has a dog! Dogs and cats don’t get along, Liam!” 

“I’m sorry Tal. Markus is trying to prioritize putting everyone who needs to be kept warm into as few rooms as possible—” 

“ROOMS! You said rooms! How many are there?” 

“Three, but the other two are full,” Liam explained gently, patting Tal’s back. “The cats will be okay.” 

“No, they’ll be terrified!” Tal argued.

Kara rested a hand on Luther’s arm, glancing up at him and Alice before focusing on Liam. 

“These kittens are only a day or two old,” she explained to the PL600 gently in turn. “Maybe someone in one of the other rooms would switch places with Tal? Markus wouldn’t want the kittens or their mother to come to any harm.” For all she knew, Sumo and the cats would get along perfectly fine. It was the worst possible time to find out the huge dog spooked the cat and have her run off into the storm, though.

Liam considered for a moment, then nodded. 

“I’ll ask if anyone can switch. Can you wait here, Tal? Kara, you and your family need to go upstairs to Josh’s room.” 

“Thank you, thank you!” Tal turned to Kara next. “I’ll see you after the storm.” 

“Tal, it’s not a guarantee,” Liam sighed. 

Kara patted Tal’s shoulder and smiled.

“It IS a chance, though. Now, which room is Josh’s? I don’t know my way around this house very well,” she admitted. With the front door opening and closing, the main room felt very cold and drafty — it was best to get Alice to the warmer room as quickly as they could.

“Josh’s room is upstairs. Here, I’ll have someone show you.” Liam turned and waved an android out of the crowd. “Would you please show Kara to Josh’s room?” 

“Of course,” the Traci that stepped up said, smiling nicely at Liam. He gestured for Kara to follow him and led the way up the stairs. 

“Is Sumo going to be there?” Alice asked, lifting her head and looking ahead of them. 

“I believe so.” Luther started after the Traci, nodding to the little girl in his arms. “I’m sure he’ll be happy to see you, too.”

Kara followed them, glad that they were being sent to this particular room. Alice really seemed to enjoy having pets around — once they got back to Canada, the little girl needed a kitten or a puppy for sure. 

Since her memories had been reset just a few months ago, Kara wasn’t sure how long Alice had been living with her “father” Todd. He was in the past now, but he was still affecting Alice. The damage to her biocomponents that was coming to the surface must be from years of abuse. Kara would have died protecting Alice during the android revolution — nothing this damaging had happened to the little girl in the time they’d been together. Her time in the cold while Kara and Luther were detained had only made the situation worse…

Pushing the dark thoughts away, Kara chose instead of watch Alice’s face light up when they stepped into the room and she caught sight of the dog.

“Sumo!” The girl called, reaching for the big dog as Luther knelt to put her closer. The Saint Burnard rose to his feet and hurried over, whining and licking Alice’s face excitedly. Alice hugged her arms around Sumo’s neck and snuggled into his thick fur with a smile.

“Hey,” Hank said, also getting up to greet them. “Glad to see you guys are all okay.” 

The room had two other people in it, completely engrossed in their conversation. A brown-haired human man was laying in the bed and an android with dark hair and eyes sat nearby on a CyberLife crate. Kara noted that the android was melted severely on his face and hands as he slowly signed to the human. There was a pause as the human repeated the sentence. 

“My name is Jacob,” the human said seriously along with the hand gestures, breaking into a big smile afterward. “How do you say ‘you’re awesome?’” 

His friend laughed softly and pointed to him, then signed _Awesome._

By the time Kara looked back at Alice, the little girl had Sumo on his side and was petting his belly, reassuring him gently. 

“You can go play in the snow. That’s what Saint Bernards were made for!”

Kara smiled at the sight, turning to look at Hank. 

“I’m glad we get to be in the same room.” She looked around the room, noting some food and a thermos of coffee in bags across the room. Hank really did intend to weather the storm with the androids, didn’t he? “Where’s Connor?” She asked the ex-cop, realizing she didn’t see the RK800 there. She had assumed he would either be with Hank or with Markus, and Markus was apparently busy helping prepare the houses for the storm.

“He’s off helping patch this place up — which is where I’m heading. If you don’t mind watching Sumo, that is. He’s had a long day,” Hank said, leaning to pat the dog’s side too. “Oh, uh,” he gestured to the two men across the room, “That’s Jacob and his pal Brett. They’ve had a long day too.” Hank stepped around Sumo to stand closer and whisper, “The Alfreda assholes tried to kill ‘em.”

Kara looked at Brett and Jacob, then gave Hank a solemn nod. 

“Of course we’ll watch Sumo,” she promised. “Be careful, the temperature outside is dropping fast.” She had to wonder just how many more repairs there were to be made before everyone could come inside and spend the night.  


* * *

  
It was so dark outside. Simon found it harder to sit around doing nothing when it sounded like the entire complex was hurrying up and down the hallway outside in a panic. He rolled over in the lounge chair, better adjusting the blanket to cover him. Even the smallest draft through the room felt icy. 

This storm was frightening. He hadn’t seen New Jericho in such a flurry before. All Simon could do was hope that he and Ralph didn’t wind up with company in their room. It wouldn’t be good for Ralph after so many surprise visits all day. 

The WR600 had been pretty quiet ever since Connor and Markus had come by wanting to see his memories. Maybe all of the commotion outside was spooking him. He’d come over and put wood into the fire barrel occasionally, but otherwise was sticking to the far side of the room, scratching more ‘rA9’ writing into the walls and part of the ceiling in that corner.

Ralph abruptly stopped what he was doing, dropping the stick and moving over to stir the embers in the fire. He looked over at Simon and seemed like he might say something, but didn’t.

Simon tried to reassure him with a smile, holding a hand out to try and coax Ralph closer. 

“Can we talk?”

Ralph seemed a little cautious of the offered hand, but stepped around the fire and took it after a moment, fidgeting.

“Ralph thinks maybe…maybe he made a mistake,” he admitted, looking at Simon hesitantly. “With the memories.”

“Not at all! I saw the memories that Connor has now and those will be very helpful in catching the people that attacked me.” Simon had been very surprised to see two people in Ralph’s memories. One or two attackers didn’t matter, though — the important part was that the video was enough to clear Ralph’s name. The blond squeezed Ralph’s hand, smiling at the memories of the flower shop screen with sunflowers on it. 

Ralph smiled uncertainly in return. 

“But that’s not what Ralph saw,” he said. “He thought he would, that’s what Connor said, he said we would search together. But Ralph saw something else.”

On instinct, Simon let go of Ralph’s hand and sat back from him. It hadn’t occurred to him that through their exchange of information, Ralph might have seen some of Simon’s own memories. A strange wave of panic washed over Simon, and he pushed his blanket off, climbing shakily to his feet to put the lounge chair between he and Ralph.

“Oh,” he managed, hurriedly looking through his memory to try and figure out WHAT Ralph might have seen. There had been so many awful things. He never meant to show Ralph more terrible things to be afraid of! 

“Ralph didn’t mean to!” Ralph said quickly, holding up his hands. Simon’s literal retreat around the chair seemed to upset him; his LED was yellow with flickers of red mixed in. “He saw nothing anyway, just…just laundry.” He frowned at the memory he was thinking of, looking down at the fire sadly. “But he wasn’t with you when you saw the attack, and for that, Ralph is sorry. He didn’t want you to be alone for that.”

Bracing himself on the back of the lounge chair to stay on his feet, Simon shook his head in disbelief. Just laundry. He had just seen laundry. It hurt to see Ralph upset again, so the blond started slowly back around the chair. 

“You have nothing to apologize for. You saved my life,” Simon told the WR600. “I should be thanking you if anything.” 

“You never would’ve gone out there if not for Ralph,” Ralph replied quietly, shaking his head. “But it’s done now. It’s done.” He took a tentative step toward Simon, offering his hands. “You should sit down.”

Simon had to agree there. The cold air had already lowered his core temperature by a degree in the short time he was out from under the blanket. Before he could sit back down, his phone hummed with a new message. The little bell sound after made it easy to tell who had sent the text. It was Mandy! 

Grabbing onto Ralph’s shoulder for support, Simon dug out his phone and checked the message. It was long and carefully written, but the only part he really processed was the last sentence. 

_‘I wish you the best, though!’_

The screen grew blurry as Simon’s eyes started to tear up. The last thing he wanted to do was scare Ralph, but he turned and threw his arms around the other blond’s shoulders to hug him. 

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he had always known that Mandy would leave him. She was a human and he was an android, after all.

Crying against Ralph’s shoulder, Simon was disappointed in himself. He hadn’t been able to keep calm. His carefully calculated persona of calm, the one everyone here knew, had failed…just like the day Jasmine had died.


	31. Worries

Markus had been moving for hours, but he felt like he hadn’t done nearly enough, that New Jericho wasn’t prepared for this storm. He’d visited every house in the complex to personally see to it that they were as safe and comfortable as possible. Several houses were so drafty he’d moved all of the androids there into other buildings.

The morgue had been sealed down, but not before Markus retrieved whatever tiny reserves of blue blood they had on hand in case of an emergency. There were too many bodies to fit into the main house along with all of the living — including the empty bodies of the androids they’d gotten from Alfreda. Anyone needing spare biocomponents would just have to wait until after the storm.

The wind had really picked up in the past hour. Big heavy snowflakes started to fall as Markus waved the last of the Jerrys away from their work and told them to go indoors. It was pitch dark outside; Markus’ flashlight beam only cut through a thin slice of it as he made his way out to the last check-in point — the front gate.

Ken was taken aback when Markus told him to just leave his post, but it was too cold for him to stay the entire night out there. He and Markus walked back to the main house together.

The sound of the wind cut out as the TW400 shut the door tight. The house was crowded with androids, all talking in hushed voices and creating a lot of noise between them.

“He’s resting!” The insistent voice caught Markus’ attention even from all the way across the room. What was Ralph doing downstairs?

“Shh!” North’s irritated voice replied, trying to be quiet about it. “Then why aren’t you upstairs WITH him?”

“Ralph needs to talk to Markus,” the WR600 replied quickly. “And you.” 

“Me?” North sounded as surprised by that part as Markus felt. 

Waving Ken away in case he scared Ralph, Markus gently pushed his way over to where North was. A lot of the androids in the main room were trying to distance themselves from the damaged WR600, brushing past Markus on his way through. 

“It’s alright,” Markus told a Traci in passing. He stopped beside North, ready to jump between the two if their conversation became violent. It was very surprising to see Ralph downstairs by himself. Was Simon alright? “Ralph. Is everything okay?”

“Markus!” Ralph turned to him, sounding relieved. North gave him a frown and crossed her arms. 

“I found him in the kitchen. He says he left Simon upstairs by himself,” she filled Markus in.

“No — NO,” Ralph insisted, holding up one of his hands. “Ralph is here to help Simon! You both are his friends, right? You and — and Josh, he also said Josh. But he’s staying somewhere else.”

“How do YOU know that?” North narrowed her eyes at him. “I haven’t heard from him in days.” 

Neither had Markus…

“He called Simon on the phone,” Ralph replied impatiently. “Ralph couldn’t talk to him, because Simon was right there.” He muttered something more, glancing around the room nervously. 

“Where is Josh staying?” Markus asked, carefully keeping his voice low. Markus hadn’t heard from Josh in awhile either. He felt horrible for being distracted with everything. Josh could have been dead for all he knew. At least it sounded like he had called Simon before the weather interfered with reception too much. 

Another WR600 stepped past them, staring at Ralph curiously. 

Ralph glanced back, frowned, and quickly averted his eyes. Somebody else with the same original face didn’t seem to put him at any more ease than he was with most people.

“He told Simon he works at a college,” he explained to Markus quietly — and very quickly. “He’s teaching the humans. He said they are giving him shelter, and he will be safe.”

North looked even more bothered by that.

“Do we need to go upstairs and check on Simon?” She asked Ralph suspiciously. He stared back at her angrily. 

“Are you saying Ralph hurt him?” He waved a hand at Markus. “Ralph didn’t! Ralph hurt nobody — he just doesn’t want Simon to be so sad!”

“North,” Markus said under his breath, resting a hand on her shoulder. Yelling wouldn’t help. Turning his attention to Ralph again, Markus nodded to him. “I’m glad to hear that Josh is somewhere safe. Now, why is Simon sad?” 

If they had had an argument, Simon would have followed Ralph downstairs. There was no way he’d throw the other android out of his room, no matter how mad he was. Simon just didn’t do that. 

North sighed a little, uncrossing her arms. She didn’t say anything more, waiting for Ralph to explain too.

The WR600 huffed in annoyance and held his hands out to them. 

“That’s what Ralph’s been trying to tell you. The human Simon was seeing sent him a message. She doesn’t want to see him anymore,” he explained, frowning. “Ralph’s not sure why. He just knows Simon read it and then he started to cry, and — and — and Ralph needs to help. He needs to.”

North glanced at the staircase, her expression softening.

“You are Simon’s friends,” Ralph continued, looking at both her and Markus. “You have known him longer than Ralph has. What makes him happy? What — what could Ralph do to help?”

Markus frowned. He couldn’t say that he was surprised by the news, but it hurt to hear that Simon was actually upset about it. 

“Well,” Markus began, glancing at North. Why couldn’t he think of anything that Simon liked? 

The blond was fairly quiet. Simon always put others before himself, even in conversation. He rarely ever talked about himself unless he was a key part of their plans. 

“Simon likes flowers,” Markus offered slowly. The only reason he knew that was because he had overheard Simon telling Ralph that they could start a flower garden together in springtime. 

Ralph nodded.

“Yes, he likes flowers, but Ralph doesn’t have any. He also likes the room to be clean. And to look out the window at the sky, but it’s dark right now. He likes hugs, but Ralph already tried hugs, and Simon hugged him back but he cried anyway.” He looked at the floor sadly. “Ralph knows that he likes to be safe and for his friends to be safe. There must be something to bring him that’s not flowers. Maybe Ralph should bring you to him. No, he doesn’t like for people to worry about him…”

North glanced at Markus dubiously. 

“Simon’s told you more about what he likes than he ever told me,” she admitted a bit bitterly. “He never talks about himself. You’re right, he doesn’t like to be fussed over.”

Markus frowned. It seemed like Ralph knew Simon better than both of them, and they had fought through a war with him. 

PL600s were made to be very subservient, doing housework and caring for kids. They were older and pretty popular. 

That didn’t tell Markus one thing that Simon as an individual might like. He liked his room clean? Simon had never said anything about that before. Maybe it was pointless when they were squatting in a giant, rusted old ship, so Simon hadn’t brought it up? 

“I should check on him.” Feeling disappointed in himself as a friend all over again, Markus started up the stairs. 

“Wait, wait!” Ralph hurried after him. North frowned and trailed after, shaking her head. “Simon is resting. You should let him rest. He doesn’t know Ralph left the room, don’t — don’t tell him, or he will worry.”

“I’m worried,” North muttered.

“I don’t know what makes him happy. We should just ask him what would make him feel better,” Markus admitted, pausing at the top of the stairs to look back down at Ralph. 

Simon had always come to check on him when he had had a bad day. He could at least do that. 

“Markus?” Connor was looking up at him from the base of the stairs, dusting snow off of his shoulders and hair. He glanced between North and Ralph, then back to Markus. “Is it Simon?” He spoke the last more quietly, glancing behind them at the crowded room. They’d made some space when Ralph arrived, luckily.

“You were still outside? The temperature’s supposed to drop as low as twenty below zero in the next two hours,” Markus said with concern, hurrying back down the steps to dust the rest of the snow from the front of Connor’s jacket. 

Detroit had broken records in the past couple of years for how cold the winters were. Markus had been hoping that it would skip this winter. No such luck. 

Connor’s hair was messy from the wind and fell down over his forehead. He smiled and caught Markus’ hand. 

“I’m okay. I was just helping the Jerrys seal off a hole in one of the walls outside. We found it at the last minute.” Now that he mentioned them, Markus did see the gaggle of about five Jerrys all near the front door, dusting snow off as well. It was the same group he’d waved at to go inside earlier — had Connor been with them the whole time?

“Simon’s not dead,” North told the RK800. It was a little blunt, but Connor HAD been sort of asking that earlier. “His girlfriend just dumped him.”

“His human,” Ralph muttered. “Mandy. Connor knows about the humans…” He sat up and looked at Connor warily. “You DO know about the humans. Don’t you have one here?”

“I’m not KEEPING Hank here,” Connor clarified, raising an eyebrow. “But, yes, he’s here.”

“Hank won’t bother you,” Markus told the WR600. “Ralph, please go back upstairs for now. I’ll try to find something to make Simon happy, but right now we focus on keeping him warm. Can you make sure that the windows are locked? The wind is—” 

Markus stopped abruptly as the entire complex plunged into darkness. The lights blinked back on again and Markus glanced around at all the scared faces. 

“It’s alright. Just find a place to sit down.” Before he could finish the sentence, the power cut off again. Markus pulled his flashlight from his pocket and flicked it on, keeping the bright beam on the floor.

Connor clicked his light on, too, and over by the door several beams snapped on as the Jerrys all turned on the flashlights they’d just been using while outside working. The gathered androids were surprisingly quiet. There was no panic, just a soft murmur of quick words and a shuffle as they all moved to settle in.

“Ralph’s not scared,” came a slightly creepy whisper from the stairs. “But he will go to Simon.” Markus heard his footsteps retreat up the stairs quickly. 

“We stockpiled a lot of firewood,” Connor offered, deciding not to comment on Ralph. “We should start fire barrels in the main rooms, for light if nothing else.”

“I’ll run some firewood upstairs to Simon’s room,” Markus told Connor, taking the opportunity to hold his hand in the dark. Spending hours away from the ex-detective had been hard, especially after Connor had almost been shot. 

“I’ll help,” Ken offered from nearby, clicking on his own flashlight. 

Markus dropped Connor’s hand and nodded quickly. His instinct was telling him that now wasn’t a good time to reveal that he and Connor were together. 

Markus started back to the hall off of the entryway. That was where they had stored all the firewood. He was eager for everyone to settle in so that he and Connor could find a spot to talk for awhile.

Behind him, he could hear Connor, Ken, and the Jerrys all talking. From the sound of it, working with them to prepare for the storm had made Connor feel less like an outsider — the Jerrys were especially good at making people feel welcome. North’s voice wasn’t there, Markus noticed. 

“Markus.” She spoke up close to his side, keeping her voice soft. She must have followed silently. “Do you believe what Ralph said about Simon?”

“I knew that his relationship wouldn’t last with Mandy. He said that they never talked about androids. That couldn’t have been a good thing,” Markus sighed, stopping to pick up an armload of wood. The entire hallway was stacked nearly to the roof with anything that would burn. Markus could recognize several pieces from a ruined house that he had had the complex tear down a week ago. At least it was good for something. 

North scooped up an armload of firewood, too. 

“Not that. It’s safer for him to stay away from humans anyway,” she said flatly. “I mean about him being so upset about it. I don’t know about you, but I’ve hardly even seen him upset enough to raise his voice before, and we fought a war together.”

That was an excellent point. Ralph had said that Simon had started crying. It was hard to believe, so Markus had assumed that Ralph was just exaggerating. What if he wasn’t, though? Starting back down the hallway, Markus nodded to North. 

“I’ll check on him. They need firewood anyway.”  


* * *

  
The clouds outside must have been very thick; the hallway was pitch black as Connor made his way back to the room with Hank and Sumo. He was carrying a big stack of firewood for their fire barrel. The power going out didn’t affect the temperatures in the house one way or the other, but keeping the fire burning did that and kept people from sitting around in the dark.

“Hank! Could you please open the door?” Connor called, kicking the door lightly with one foot. His arms were full, and he had the flashlight gripped in one hand around the firewood. The beam was shining half on the floor and half on the wall, but it was better than nothing.

The door pulled open and Hank waved him inside. The gray haired man had a big blanket wrapped over his shoulders and a pair of black gloves on. He shivered and muttered under his breath. A flashlight was laying on an exposed ceiling beam, lighting the room up just enough to see. 

“Damn, it’s cold. Everyone settled in?” 

The people in the room seemed to be. Brett was up beside Jacob on the bed, leaving space for Luther to sit on the CyberLife crate. Alice and Sumo were curled up on the floor with a beige blanket over them, and Kara was seated on the floor nearby. 

The window in the room had been mostly covered with a piece of wood, leaving space at the bottom just above where a big barrel had been sat. 

Connor stepped inside and dropped the firewood in a pile next to the fire barrel. 

“We have lots of firewood, so don’t worry about using it up building up the fire,” he said. “How is everyone? Sorry I didn’t check in sooner — I was helping with repairs.” When everyone settled in better, Connor wondered if he’d get to talk to Markus alone. He was a little nervous to, since they hadn’t had the chance since the kisses. 

Markus was busy — he had people to take care of — but it made Connor uneasy that neither of them had said a word about the kissing since. Maybe he had done it wrong, or maybe Markus was having second thoughts about being more than friends. That would be awful…

“We’ll be fine,” Kara spoke up, pulling him out of his worrying. The AX400 smiled up at him. “Thanks for the firewood. If there’s anything we could do to help out there, we’re just sitting here—”

“No,” Connor said quickly, holding up his hands. “Markus wants everyone to stay in their rooms where it’s warmest. Everyone out there is just sitting and waiting the weather out, too.”

“That includes you,” Hank reminded him. He rummaged through the many pockets on his jacket and pulled out a lighter, igniting it to make sure that it worked. 

Connor replied with only an uncertain little smile to that. He wasn’t sure what Markus actually wanted him to do. Not go outside, from how he’d reacted earlier. Connor wasn’t damaged and he didn’t want to sit around when he could help out, though. 

He wondered if Markus saw them as equals. He didn’t want to be placed on any pedestals. And Markus already took care of everyone else here — he didn’t need to take care of Connor, Connor needed to take care of him.

Piling some of the firewood into the fire barrel, he gestured for Hank to light it. 

“I-I might go find Markus first,” he admitted quietly, glancing at Kara and the others. Luckily they seemed to be paying attention to each other more than Hank and Connor — Kara was tucking Alice’s blanket around her closer, and Brett and Jacob were talking quietly on the bed. 

Well, Brett still couldn’t speak, but after the hearing modules the Jerrys had been kind enough to donate, at least now he could hear when Jacob spoke to him.

Hank gave Connor a long, hard look, eyes squinting a bit, then he nodded. 

“Gotcha.” The old detective turned his focus on lighting the fire, using a burger wrapper as kindling. The grease made it light up quickly. 

If anything, that look made Connor even more nervous. Hank knew him too well not to notice what he and Markus were up to. He’d made that same face after Markus opened the door, even though there was no possible way he could know they’d just been kissing each other. And he’d said they could spend more time together if they wanted, and he’d acted like the way Markus felt was obvious to anybody who was looking, but Connor still felt transparent about Hank knowing about all of this.

And yet he was also glad Hank was here instead of back at home. That made no reasonable sense. Why did emotions have to be so irrational?

“Hank, I’m glad you’re here,” he admitted anyway, since it was the truth, after all. He stepped over and knelt down to pet Sumo for a moment, smiling. Dogs were so wonderful. He felt calmer already, more prepared to go talk to Markus and find out where they both stood with this ‘together’ and ‘kissing’ thing. 

Starting back toward the door, Connor looked at the crackling fire starting to blaze in the barrel and smiled.

“I’ll be back later, I promise.”


	32. Sparks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, Threshie here. Don't worry, this fic's not going on hiatus. We've missed a couple of weeks here thanks to Real Life intervening (and in this instance Real Life = dog-sitting a rescue pitbull who needs constant care like a small child) but we're back on track now and should be able to stick with our regularly-scheduled weekly updates again.
> 
> Thanks for reading and commenting and enjoying our story! Without further ado, here's chapter 32...

It had been a long time since Simon had manually powered down. It wasn’t something that he liked to do, it made him feel vulnerable. But he hadn’t been able to stop himself from going over every interaction he had had with Mandy. Was it something he had done? Some small cue he had missed? 

Her text had sounded very sincere, promising Simon that there was nothing wrong with him, she just didn’t feel a spark. And… 

Apparently he had talked about Ralph a lot. So much so that Mandy had assumed he and the WR600 were more than friends. 

Simon finally opened his eyes, staring up at the old wooden ceiling. 

Ralph was being awfully quiet. 

Simon shifted to sit up in the lounge chair, looking around the room. Ralph wasn’t in the corner, he wasn’t by the fire…he wasn’t in the room! 

Simon sank down into the blanket, frustrated that he couldn’t stop his eyes from growing misty. He had probably scared Ralph away with all the emotions. Why did he have to have emotions? It was so much easier when he could just give a nod or a smile and be ignored. 

The room was growing colder. Simon could wait a bit longer, but the fire was starting to dim.

Abruptly, all of the lights died. They came back on almost immediately. Thank goodness, the power going out would be— 

And now they were off again.

The light from the fire barrel flickered and danced on the walls, painting them orange. It was a stark contrast to the cold wall of snowflakes flying around in the dark out the window.

Simon heard quick, light footsteps outside in the hallway. The door opened and shut with just enough time for Ralph to slip back inside, his LED glowing yellow on his temple. 

“…Cover the windows and check on Simon,” the WR600 was saying to himself under his breath, sounding worried. “Shhh, don’t wake him, let him rest…”

He turned around, saw Simon sitting up in bed, and froze.

Simon stared back. 

Where had Ralph gone? Had he been trying to leave the complex? 

Leave Simon? 

“Ralph,” he said after a pause, smiling softly. “You came back. I’m sorry for earlier. I-I didn’t mean to scare you.” Simon pushed his blanket down and tried to wish away the sadness on his face. 

Ralph quickly moved over and tucked the blanket back up around him. 

“No, no — let Ralph fix the fire first,” he said quickly, dismayed. “Ralph’s not scared. He didn’t mean to be gone so long — he wanted to be here when you woke up again,” he added with regret, moving over and dumping some firewood into the fire barrel without really looking. Sparks flew up and the flames immediately took to the new boards. 

Ralph added a few more, talking the whole time, and while it seemed like an explanation for Simon, he could easily have just been muttering to himself. “He just needed to talk to Markus…and, and North…and then North thought Ralph was there to cause trouble, so she wouldn’t LISTEN to him until Markus was there to make her listen…”

He hurried back to Simon’s side, patting his back, kind of hovering an arm like he wanted to hug the other blond but wasn’t sure if he should. “Do you…are you still sad? Ralph wants to help, if he can,” he admitted. “What can he do?”

“He — you can sit down with me. My temperature is still low.” The flashing warning at the edge of Simon’s vision told him that he actually didn’t KNOW what his temperature was. Apparently his regulator had completely shut off while he was napping. Simon offered an arm out to Ralph, smiling again. “Why is the power off?” 

“Ralph’s not sure,” the WR600 admitted, stepping around to the side of the chair opposite the fire. He lifted the blanket and sat on the edge of the lounge chair to drape it over their laps. Turning, he tentatively put both arms around Simon’s waist, hugging him sideways. One hand rose to feel Simon’s forehead almost immediately, though. “No…no no, you shouldn’t be so cold. Ralph needs to take care of you better,” he mumbled, as if he was criticizing somebody other than himself.

Simon found that looping his arms around Ralph was comforting. It surprised him how fast he got used to the WR600 being around. He was very grateful that Ralph hadn’t been leaving, though that didn’t explain why he would be talking to North or Markus. 

“Ralph? What did you want to talk to Markus about?”

“Nothing!” Ralph said quickly, hugging him a little tighter. He fidgeted with whether to lean his head on Simon’s shoulder or not and finally gave in and did so after about three times stopping himself. “Well, something, but Ralph wanted to surprise you,” he admitted. “Only, he’s not sure what you would like. Markus and North have been your friends for longer, so Ralph thought they would know.”

“Ralph, you don’t have to get me anything. I mean, I don’t even know WHY you would get me anything. The sunflowers were plenty! I loved them. From what I got to see of them,” Simon told him, laying back against the back of the lounge. 

A loud knock on the door snapped Simon’s attention away from Ralph. 

Markus called from the hallway, “Ralph, can you open the door? I have some firewood for you.” 

Ralph fidgeted a little, then reluctantly sat up, patting the blanket close around Simon. 

“Ralph won’t leave again,” he assured the other android, “He will be right back.” He slipped out from under the blanket and warily approached the door, opening it a crack to peek out before actually holding it aside for Markus.

“Thank you,” Markus told him, stepping in past the WR600 with an armload of firewood. “I know it probably doesn’t need to be said, but I’m having everyone stay in their rooms until tomorrow morning. I don’t want anyone wandering around while it’s this cold. Please.” 

Simon smiled and nodded to his friend as Markus came closer to stand at the foot of the lounge. The light behind him made it hard to see the emotion on his face. If Ralph had really ventured all the way downstairs just to find him, Markus was probably worried about him being left alone for that long. 

“We didn’t plan on going anywhere,” Simon assured him. 

“I figured, just…” Markus glanced Ralph’s way, the light from the fire shining in his pale eyes. “Are you alright? Ralph said that you were upset. I’m sorry about Mandy.” 

“It’s fine,” Simon said quickly, glancing at Ralph too. 

“I was worried that she would find out you were an android—” Markus tried to continue before Simon cut him off. 

“No, no. She knew that I was an android. She said as much in her message. It wasn’t that.” 

“Then what was it?” Markus frowned as he took a seat on the end of the lounge. Simon shrank back a bit. He didn’t want to explain everything when he wasn’t sure about his own opinions on it — especially the part about Mandy assuming he had a crush on Ralph. Because she might have been right. 

All Simon wanted was someone to spend time with. Someone that he felt safe with. Cared for…maybe even loved. Ralph did that, despite all his quirks. It was easy to spend hours in the WR600’s company even when they had nothing to say. 

“She said that we just didn’t have that spark.” 

“Do you agree with her?” Ralph asked, finally coming back from where he’d been lingering over by the door. He glanced at Markus as he approached, then moved closer and picked up the firewood Markus had sat on the floor before he sat down. “Sparks could be bad — sparks light fires,” he muttered, moving the firewood over to the stack with the rest.

“Yes. She was right. I wanted to get out into the world so badly, I think I overlooked how little she and I had in common.” Simon adjusted his blankets and gave Markus a tired smile. “I’ll be alright, Markus. Let’s just worry about this storm for now.” 

Nodding, Markus got up and headed back to the door, waving behind him to Ralph. 

“Let me know if you need anything. I’ll be in the room at the end of the hall.” 

Simon watched as the door closed, sinking down into the chair. With the lights out, his room resembled the old Jericho ship. Dark, dirty and only lit by fire from an old barrel. At least Ralph was here this time. 

“Ralph, I don’t like being alone when I’m sleeping.” The PL600 rolled the blankets down again and smiled at Ralph. “Can you stay with me?” 

Tossing another piece of wood onto the fire, Ralph stepped quickly over, glancing at the door like Markus might come back. 

“Yes…yes, of course. Ralph will keep you warm,” he promised, turning back to Simon. Lifting a hand, he felt the other blond’s forehead carefully, then his cheek. “Will you…power down again?” He asked softly.

“I was hoping that I could. I just don’t like being alone that way,” Simon admitted, trying to reassure Ralph with a smile. 

Waking up alone reminded Simon of his old life. The moment that he found himself standing in the shop, due to be formatted after being returned. He hadn’t been faulty. There was nothing more he could have done to save Jasmine. 

Realizing that his eyes were tearing up, Simon huddled back down into the blankets. 

“It’s alright if you don’t want to lay down with me. Just…please don’t leave.” 

“Ralph won’t leave again,” the WR600 promised, resting a hand on Simon’s back. There came a couple tentative pats as he added, “When you wake up again, he will be right here.” With that, he crawled back under the blanket and laid down beside Simon, carefully tucking the blanket around them both again. After a moment, he whispered, “Simon?”

Simon wrapped his arms around the other android, laying back against the chair and staring up at the ceiling. What was he supposed to do? Did Ralph feel safe with him, too? Worried that he might break the spell that was keeping Ralph close, Simon whispered back. 

“Yes?” 

Ralph hesitated for a moment, then settled in, resting his head on Simon’s shoulder. He sounded like he might be frowning when he spoke next.

“Do you think that the spark is only for humans?”

Moving a hand to rest between Ralph’s shoulders, Simon honestly didn’t know. Were androids capable of the same kind of love that humans felt? Seeing Kara and Alice seemed like proof of maternal love, but what about romantic love? Simon closed his eyes. 

There were millions of studies and books on romance. Even humans didn’t fully understand it, who were they to say if their love was the only form of real love? With all his studies on philosophy, Markus was more equipped to answer that question than Simon. 

“No. I don’t think it is.”  


* * *

  
Connor had expected to have to look around awhile for Markus — so it was a pleasant surprise to step into the main room just as the RK200 was stepping down the staircase. 

“Hello,” Connor called to him, waving with a slightly nervous smile. They were officially ‘together’, and what he really wanted to do was to walk over there and put his arms around the Deviant leader and kiss him, but what if Markus was uncomfortable with that? 

Then again, Markus had been holding his hand in the dark every chance he got earlier. Feeling encouraged, Connor moved to the foot of the stairs and waited for his…his…friend? No, they were more than friends, but what word was adequate? 

Boyfriend…?

Damn Kamski all over again for including blushing in Connor’s programming.

Markus descended the stairs with a small smile, stopping on the step up from Connor right in front of him. He was still in his big coat and boots damp from the snow, with a forest green scarf draped over his shoulders. He offered a hand. 

“Everyone’s settling in for the night.”

Connor gladly took his hand, smiling. 

“I know it’s crowded here, but I was hoping — well, I-I thought maybe that we could go somewhere quiet,” he suggested, taking Markus’ other hand as well and turning a hopeful gaze up at him. “Somewhere where we could talk?”

“I’m staying in the storage room at the other end of the hallway.” Markus led Connor along back up the stairs. “It’s quiet, I promise.” 

Connor followed him with a smile, but said no more until they arrived at the room. 

“Does anyone need your help later?” He asked quietly, watching Markus open the door, “Or are you free?” Maybe a bad choice of words. Was it? He was nervous now.

“Free until sunrise. Hopefully.” 

The storage room was very small. It had a bench at the back and stacks of boxes towering to the roof on the right side of it. To the right was a shelf stuffed full of random things. Mixed in among the piles of old tools, cardboard boxes and musty towels was a shelf full of books. Connor recognized some of the titles from Markus’ old room. They were books on philosophy, business, and art. 

Markus slipped his coat off and lay it on one end of the bench, sitting down beside it. 

“Have you had a chance to examine the files that you got from Ralph yet?” 

Following his example, Connor started to wind the white scarf from around his neck, shaking his head.

“Not more than a peek or two,” he admitted, starting to unbutton the gray peacoat next. He had a sweater underneath it — he’d probably be warm enough. “Helping with the preparations was more important.” 

He stepped over and took a seat beside Markus, sighing a little. “We can think about those things tomorrow. Right now I-I was hoping we could talk about…” He shrugged, looking at the other android sidelong. “Well, about us.”

“What about us?” Markus asked, resting an arm easily around Connor’s shoulders. He frowned a bit, scooting closer. “Is everything okay?”

Connor should have felt bad about causing the frown, but the arm around him felt so nice that he smiled instead.

“Nothing to worry about. This is just a bit awkward,” he admitted, gesturing to the books on the shelves. “You’ve read so much philosophy, and literature, and poetry. You know some of the greatest romances ever written, and I know…” He sighed. “Murder methods. Forensics analysis. Also how to make pleasant small talk so that people like me, although I’m worse at that since I deviated.” He shrugged slightly, turning toward Markus to lean against his side. “I guess I feel inadequate,” he realized aloud, bemused.

“Inadequate at what? The romances that I’ve read where made by humans and meant to be read by humans.” Markus brushed Connor’s hair back into place with his other hand and smiled, leaning closer to kiss the other android’s cheek. 

Connor felt a little spark go through him at the kiss. Not the same kind of electricity as the kisses before, not at all, but a sudden bright happiness. Markus was so wonderful — there was no-one like him anywhere else in the world. And he wanted to be with Connor.

“Weren’t we made by humans, too?” He pointed out, taking the hand that Markus still had resting on his hair and drawing it down to kiss softly. “I’m not doubting our ability to feel what we’re feeling. I just wish that I could describe it to you better.”

He turned Markus’ hand over, uncurling the fingers and examining his palm. When Simon had done the probe to glimpse Ralph’s memories, he’d done it in a way Connor had never seen before. Both androids’ hands were showing their white bases, and when their fingers pressed together, every fingertip had glowed blue. It made Connor curious to know what the difference was between that and the memory probes he’d always done. 

Asking to probe Markus’ memory didn’t sound very romantic, though, did it?

“Simon thought he’d be able to blend in and experience everything that humans do when they are in love.” Markus watched him, glancing down at his palm as well. “…Maybe you could show me instead?” 

Connor looked at his hand, too, raising his eyebrows. 

“Like probing for a memory, but in the present? I don’t see why it wouldn’t work,” he admitted. Here was his chance to try out the new kind of memory probe. Suddenly he was a little nervous about just letting Markus into his head, though. He hadn’t done anything terribly wrong, and his feelings were very, very sincere, so he shouldn’t have been worried. Why was he worried?

Resting his hand on top of Markus’, Connor said, “I can try.” He pressed their palms together and thought about the electricity, the way he felt each time they kissed. Even better, he thought, he could demonstrate it happening. He turned toward Markus more, leaning in and pressing their lips together.

There was the spark — nervous joy, hopeful excitement. The world flickered, and Connor found himself on a different bench in a familiar room full of beautiful art. Carl’s living room. He was playing the piano, fingers dancing gracefully over the keys as easily as blinking. A tumble of beautiful notes rose from the instrument and filled the room, drifting over the artwork and furniture and gilded staircase, the giraffe sculpture and the table and the glowing thin line of the television.

And it felt…much like the kiss, difficult to describe.

This was Markus’ memory, but why was Connor seeing it? Why now? He’d expected to see nothing since he was the one showing his memories. If this made him see one from Markus, why not one from the present?

If they were sharing the past, what part of Connor was MARKUS seeing…?

“Markus! Markus!” The slamming on the door jolted Connor back to reality. Somebody was knocking loudly.

Markus seemed disoriented too as he got up to check the door. Ken was waiting just outside, waving to them the moment that the door was open. 

“Hurry, we have to go outside — building H is on fire!”


	33. Flames

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! As you have probably noticed, we've fallen off of the weekly update wagon. Real Life (TM) has been a whirlwind lately, but rest assured that we're still writing and very excited to present the rest of the story to you. As always, thank you for reading our fic! ♥

Wistful memories of Markus and melodious piano music followed Connor out into the storm. Distraction was definitely something new that came with deviancy — the old Connor would have snapped from that experience to investigation mode instantly and neatly filed anything else away for later. 

Building H was a nightmarish scene, the flames fanned by the storm flaring and spitting licks of fire out into the heavy snowfall. The orange light landed harsh and ominous on the deep snow, melting away at the base of the house’s porch. The building itself was starting to collapse in at both back corners.

Connor was grateful that Building H was one of the ones Markus had had evacuated before the storm. That meant there had been no fire barrels to accidentally start this, though. Someone had to have started it on purpose.

He put his forensics programming to use, scanning as they reached the base of the house. There were temperatures in excess of 1400 degrees Fahrenheit near the roof, closer to 1000 near the doors and windows. Particles of petroleum distillates were smeared on the frame of the door, hardly any left in the blaze. Gasoline was confirmation of arson for sure. There was also…thirium?

“There’s blue blood on the doorframe!” Connor called to Markus, having to shout over the wind even with the deviant leader at his side. Connor wanted to get close enough to take a sample, but the fire was burning so hot that it was a foolish idea. If anyone was inside, they had to be dead. 

Markus was watching the flames too, squinting into the light. The expression on his face was one of pain as he said something too quiet for Connor to hear, raising a hand and pointing off into the building.

Partly concealed by the blackened front of the house was a body. It was strung up on chains in the center of the building, flames sizzling up the limbs to frame its slack-jawed face. As burned as it was, Connor could make out the features of a WR600…along with two deep holes in the android’s chest.

“Find buckets! We can use the snow!” Markus shouted to the small crowd behind them. Ken immediately started off, a Jerry in tow. Markus hurried and grabbed a board from the ground near the edge of the fire, starting to shovel the snow into the flames. Wind whipped past him, threatening to knock him in as well, though Markus braced himself in time. He waved Connor back. “Go back to the main house!”

“I should scan while there’s still evidence!” Connor insisted. “This is an active crime scene — and the body’s marked just like the others the vampire left!” He ventured closer to the house, scanning the WR600’s battered form. Blue blood was sizzling and dripping through the heat cracks in the chest. 

He glanced at the smear on the doorframe, which hadn’t been boiled like the rest, and was startled to see serial number information in that blood. Connor could only identify the information about substances on sight if they were ones he’d sampled before.

Was this android someone he’d met?

_WR600 #854 082 113_

Not Ralph, Connor confirmed, comparing the serial numbers in his head. What other WR600 had he ever sampled? He focused on the thought and more information began to show up — without his networking, the police database was outdated, but he still had a copy from over a month ago.

_Model WR600 - Gardener. Name: CODY. Serial#: 854 082 113. Status: AMERICAN CITIZEN_

Citizen— What—

The database hadn’t been updated to include deviants’ citizen status or names until AFTER the Revolution. Access to the police database, the CURRENT police database, was the only way he would know the new information.

Connor brought a hand to his temple, stunned. 

His networking still told him it was inactive, but it was wrong.  


* * *

  
There was very little left of the body by the time they got the fire down enough to drag it outside. The snow around the smoldering corpse melted quickly, sending a cloud of steam up into the icy air. The wind whisked it away, though it was replaced with more. Markus knelt and fanned the steam away from the dead android’s face. He was a WR600 according to the serial number on his cheek. Connor could probably tell a lot more about him.

Markus had given his coat to Connor since the ex-detective hadn’t had the chance to bundle back up before they came charging outside and now that the fire had died down, Markus could feel a chill setting in. They should really take the body inside, but he couldn’t shake the idea that the ‘vampire’ as Connor had called it, had meant for the killing to get someone else’s attention.

“Connor, do you think this was a message for Ralph?” Markus asked as softly as he could over the howling wind.

Connor’s brown eyes narrowed as he looked down at the corpse. 

“He’s the only living witness to an attack, and kept the killer from murdering Simon,” he said grimly. “It does give the vampire motive. Ralph also injured the attacker.” He nodded to Markus. “You’re right, the choice of a WR600 can’t be a coincidence here.”

He gestured to the fiercely glowing embers of the house, flaring up every time the wind gusted. 

“This was just done, Markus. The killer is nearby. This weather won’t allow me to track them from the crime scene, but we should consider the possibility that someone in the house might be a danger to Ralph or Simon. We haven’t ruled out an android as a suspect.”

He sounded very grim and clinical about it all. The soft person Markus had been talking to in the house had vanished under a mask of professional-level calm.

Markus had to admire the purpose in Connor’s expression, though he had hoped that THAT Connor could have been replaced by the Connor that he had been getting to know over the past week. However desperately Markus wanted a quiet life for the two of them — the real world couldn’t be ignored. People needed him and Connor needed that cold, calculated calm.

“We should head back inside,” he agreed at last, standing up. “Do you need the body inside, or can we leave him here? I don’t want to scare anyone,” Markus added sadly. They could drag the WR600 to the morgue if nothing else.

Connor glanced down at the body, studying the serial number on the face. 

“Any harm that he was going to come to has already happened,” he reasoned. “But if we leave him here, he’ll probably be buried in the snow by morning. Even as damaged as the body is, I may be able to find more evidence on it later. We should carry him back and put him with the others.”

He knelt down and took hold of the WR600’s wrists, looking at Markus expectantly to grab his ankles.

Markus complied, remembering that the basement was an option. It did mean carrying the burnt, battered corpse through the main room and down the hallway. With so many drafty houses, every wall had someone leaned against it.

The idea that the killer could be in the house was disturbing. Markus was already trying to figure out who he could put in the room with Ralph. The only person that made sense was Kara. She had a history with the damaged WR600. If Markus moved her, that meant Luther and Alice had to move. It just made sense if someone dangerous might be in the complex, but was Ralph safe for them to be around?

By the time they made it back to the main house’s front porch, Markus’ temperature was getting low enough to be worrisome. Connor seemed okay, probably because he was wearing the coat Markus had loaned him. His dark hair was a mess of curls and snowflakes across his forehead, and it was still odd not to see the LED glowing at his temple. 

“Your temperature’s too low,” he said, frowning at Markus. “Let me carry the body to the room — you should get to one of the fire barrels as quick as you can.”

Markus wanted to disagree, but Connor was right. Stopping long enough to press a kiss to Connor’s cheek, he started inside and waved Ken down. The big TW400 had smudges of ash on his clothes and face from the fire. As he stepped up, Ken nodded across the room.

“I’ve put guards on all the doors. Just in case.”

“Thank you, Ken. No one comes or goes until we are sure the killer’s gone.” Markus lowered his voice and pointed to his boyfriend. “Can you help Connor? He needs to get the body down to the basement so he can examine it for evidence,” Markus explained, brushing the snow off of his shoulders. A message had appeared at the edge of his vision, warning him that his fingers were in danger of being damaged from the cold.

Ken gave him a nod and started off, so Markus hurried up the stairs to the room where Hank and Kara were staying.

“Hank?” Markus stopped inside the door, spotting the old detective. “There’s been another attack. Connor’s in the basement now, examining the body. The fire wasn’t an accident and the killer might still be HERE. I need you to keep an eye on Connor.”

“Take care of Sumo,” Hank told Jacob, bumping into Markus on his way out the door, a hand resting on the pistol under his jacket. If there was someone Markus could trust to have Connor’s safety in mind, it was Hank. Watching him until he went around the corner out of sight, Markus turned to Kara and her family.

“I’m sorry, but I need to move you to Simon’s room.”

Kara stood and stepped over closer to him, glancing back at Luther and Alice over her shoulder. 

“Of course we’ll move if we have to, but why can’t be stay here?” She asked quietly. “Is everyone here going to be moving over there?” 

“No. Not everyone. Ralph might be in danger,” Markus whispered back. Whispering seemed odd, since he and Kara both had WiFi, though Connor had gotten him used to it. “The victim was a WR600, and since Ralph actually saw the killer, he might be a target. You’re the only person I can think of that Ralph would let near him. Luther and Alice can stay here if that’d make you more comfortable.”

Kara shook her head. 

“We stay together,” she insisted. “If there’s a killer anywhere near this building, I’m not letting my family out of my sight.” She headed back over to Luther and Alice, kneeling and patting the little girl’s head. Alice had been zoning in and out of the YK500 nap simulation for awhile now; she looked sleepy. “Alice, you remember Ralph, don’t you?”

Lifting her head up from Luther’s shoulder, Alice nodded as she rubbed her eye.

“He was scary,” she mumbled.

Markus stepped over to hover his hands near the fire barrel. It would be senseless to damage his fingers when there was a heat source right in front of him.

Beside him, Kara continued patiently, “He scared me too, at first. But he helped us get away from the police, remember? He’s strange, but I promise he wouldn’t hurt you, Alice. When he heard you were sick, he was really worried and asked me if you were alright.”

“Really?” Alice sat away from Luther and reached for Kara, hugging her mom around the neck. “Can we take Sumo?”

“Hey, I don’t mind if you take the dog, just uh, tell Hank for me?” Jacob chimed in from his bed, smiling nervously. His android friend was face-down on the bed beside him, quiet and still. If it hadn’t been for the flashing LED on his temple, Markus would have assumed that he had died.

Kara wrapped her arms around Alice and glanced at Markus. 

“As long as he doesn’t jump on anyone, I think that would be okay.” She patted Alice’s back gently. “Luther can carry you there and I’ll lead Sumo along. What are we waiting for?”

“I’ll let him know,” Markus reassured Jacob. “Sumo?” He called, patting his leg to get the dog’s attention. The fluffy Saint Bernard lifted his head with a snort, snapping awake from his nap by the fire barrel. With a groan of effort, he rose to his feet and padded over to look up at Markus. The deviant leader leaned down to pat his head, happy that Connor’s dog finally seemed to accept him. Now they could take those long walks together. 

Connor. Connor was doing his part to find the killer, what was Markus doing? Petting a dog. Standing up straight, Markus led the way down the hallway, making sure that the door to Jacob’s room was shut. At least the vampire had no reason to go after him. Still, Markus planned to send Ken to watch them.

“Simon can’t get out of bed,” Markus explained as they all reached the door. “Please don’t let Sumo sit on him.”

“I’m not sure how Ralph is going to react to a dog,” Kara warned, trying to sound neutral about it to keep from scaring Alice. “So let’s let him know BEFORE bringing Sumo in, okay?”

That was probably a good idea.

“Ralph?” Markus knocked lightly on the door, listening for any noise inside. What if the killer had burned the corpse to draw them away from the house? What if Ralph and Simon were already dead? Bracing himself for the worst, Markus pushed the door open.

It didn’t budge. From the feel of it, there was most definitely something barring the door on the other side.

There was some shuffling from inside the room, and footsteps quickly approaching the door. Kara looked at Markus to see if he had expected this and did not look reassured by his expression.

“Ralph?” She called toward the door.

“Kara?” Came the cautious reply. “Who’s with you? Ralph thought he heard Markus.” 

“Yes, he’s here,” Kara confirmed, smiling uneasily. “Could you please open the door?”

There was a brief pause, and then the sound of something heavy being dragged away from the door. Ralph opened the door a crack and peeked out at them. 

“We put out the fire. Are you okay?” Markus asked, leaning to look back at him. The burns on the left side of Ralph’s face brought back a disturbing image of the WR600 from the fire. Thank goodness Ralph seemed alright, because if he was alright, Simon probably was too.

Ralph blinked and glanced uncertainly between him and Kara. Seeing Alice, he blinked and hastily turned his attention back to Markus.

“Ralph kept Simon safe,” he promised. “He’s still sleeping. Ralph is glad to see Kara and the little girl are safe, too, but why are you here?”

“There was a fire outside. Another android was killed,” Markus explained quietly. If Simon was sleeping, he couldn’t be doing that well. “I need you to keep Kara and her family safe until we’re sure the killer is gone.”

Sumo startled Markus by shoving between his knees to sniff at Ralph through the door.

Ralph froze, his LED flaring red before settling on a flickery, uneasy yellow. 

“This is Sumo,” Kara said quickly, patting the giant dog’s head with a reassuring smile at Ralph. “And over here carrying Alice is Luther. They’re both very nice, and they won’t hurt you or Simon. I promise.”

Ralph peeked up at Luther and fidgeted, his head twitching to one side. He again averted his eyes from Alice almost instantly, finally stepping aside and holding the door open.

“Ralph was not expecting company,” he muttered, half to himself. “Simon would want his room to look nice. Maybe…maybe if Ralph puts the bookshelf back.” He disappeared inside and the loud scraping was heard again. 

“You can leave it,” Markus told him, leading Sumo inside by the collar. The dog was surprisingly heavy. For some reason, Markus had assumed he was mostly fur. “I was hoping that you’d block the door again. Just until I can come back—” 

Woofing happily, Sumo yanked his collar free and charged across the room with a sudden burst of energy, sliding to a stop to lick Alice’s face as soon as Luther sat her down. The little girl giggled and hugged the dog, resting her face on his head.

If he wasn’t before, Simon was awake now. The blond was tucked into his bed with the blankets over his shoulders and a sleepy smile on his face.

Ralph peeked around the bookshelf, which he’d apparently dove behind when Sumo came charging that way. Uneasily, he glanced over at Simon and then back to the dog. 

“Right. Right. Leave the shelf. Ralph can do that.”

Kara moved over to stand by the fire barrel, warming her hands and smiling over at Simon. 

“Hi, Simon. Sorry if we woke you up,” she said nicely.

“It’s alright,” Simon told her, smiling and turning to Alice. “Hello. My name’s Simon. Who’s your friend?”

“His name’s Sumo.” Alice smiled and rubbed Sumo’s head with both her hands. She looked up at the blond after a moment and tipped her head. “Why can’t you get out of bed?”

Surprised, Simon sat up out of his blankets slowly, holding onto the back of the lounge chair for support.

“I got hurt,” he said with an exaggerated frown. 

“Me too,” Alice said knowingly. “Do you want to pet Sumo?”

“Of course!” Simon beamed, leaning to stroke the dog’s head. “Wow, he’s so soft.”

As endearing as the scene was, Markus couldn’t stay. He stepped out of the door, backing out as he shut it.

“I’m sorry. I have to go. Please let me know if you need anything!”

Without waiting for a reply, he pulled the door shut and hurried back through the hallway. Hopefully Connor had found something they could use to identify the vampire before they struck again.


	34. Personal

Kara and her family had settled into the room quietly. It seemed like everyone was trying very hard not to make any sudden moves around Ralph, or to do anything that might upset him. Simon was glad about that, but Ralph honestly didn’t seem to need that kind of caution. He was over in the corner scratching ‘IM ALIVE’ on the wall with a bit of sharp firewood, utterly silent.

The distant wail of sirens in the night didn’t reassure any of them. It must be the fire department putting out the fire Markus had mentioned. 

_“Simon.”_ The whisper in his head startled Simon. It was Ralph, but he was speaking through his WiFi. He’d never done that before — Simon hadn’t even been sure Ralph's WiFi worked at this point.

Over in his corner, the WR600 glanced over his shoulder for just a second. When he saw Simon was looking back, he hastily faced the wall again, scribbling ‘rA9’ on it.

 _“Ralph needs to talk to you,”_ he said silently.

Slipping down in his seat, Simon pulled the blankets up over his shoulders again, keeping his eyes on the fire barrel.

 _“I didn't know that you could talk through WiFi,”_ Simon commented silently, glancing down at the big sleeping pile of fur that was Sumo. The dog seemed very sweet and easily as fond of kids as Simon was. Having Alice in the room was bittersweet, stirring up memories of the blond man's life before he deviated. He prayed that wasn't what Ralph wanted to talk to him about.

Ralph shifted on his feet, pausing in his carving. After a second he went back to it, like that might look suspicious to the others. 

_“Ralph hasn’t tried since… It-it’s been a long time,”_ he explained nervously. It was very strange to be talked to while the person had their back so deliberately turned. _“Simon. The memory, with the laundry. Ralph didn’t just see, he felt. And the more he thinks of it, the worse he feels.”_

The fire popped softly, and Kara leaned to stir the embers, tossing in another piece of wood.

 _“You don't have to feel bad, Ralph,”_ Simon replied, snuggling down in his covers so he could peek at the WR600 less obviously. _“It was a long time ago. Besides, it was just laundry,”_ he added in an effort to lighten the mood.

Ralph stopped his wall carving again, and this time he dropped the piece of wood he’d been carving with, placing a hand on the new scratches instead. 

_“It was Jasmine’s laundry,”_ he mumbled silently. _“And they told you to throw it away. But you didn’t — Ralph saw you put it away in the box and — and — and hide it. It was wrong, to throw it away. Ralph felt that.”_

Simon sat his head up, frowning at Ralph even though the other android wasn’t looking at him.

 _“She…she was my world. Both of her parents had careers, I did everything for her…”_ Simon said as the memories came rushing back to him. Little Jasmine in his arms, then her taking her first steps only ten months later. _“I miss her, Ralph.”_

The WR600 turned around and looked at him sadly. He glanced at Kara and the others, then back to the blond.

 _“Ralph…he felt that, too.”_ He fidgeted, looking down at his battered hands as he folded them in front of him. _“He’s sorry you lost your little girl. He didn’t mean to look, or to make you think about it. Sorry, sorry…”_

Abruptly, he hurried over to Simon’s chair and wrapped him in a hug. It was sideways, bulky blanket and all. Kara looked up quickly, blinking, but Ralph ignored her.

Simon hugged him back tightly, thankful that Ralph’s shoulder covered the tears on his cheeks.

“I j-just wasn’t ready,” he managed, fighting to keep his voice quiet. “I didn’t even get to say goodbye,” he breathed, bracing his head on Ralph’s shoulder. “She died in the night and her parents w-wouldn’t even let me talk about her.”

Simon was painfully aware of Kara watching them, but she wasn’t saying anything, pretending to focus on the fire. That was a small mercy.

Ralph held him tight, patting his back tentatively the same way he’d done before when Mandy broke it off and Simon fell apart. The WR600 had clearly never had to comfort someone before in his life, but he was trying anyway. The purple hoodie Simon picked out for him was soft, at least, when Simon buried his nose in its shoulder. 

“And you wanted to do it, even though they didn’t order you to,” Ralph whispered almost fearfully. “Ralph’s right, isn’t he? That’s when you woke up.”

Simon froze, squeezing his eyes shut. His memory of that moment was perfect.

Jasmine’s mom, Sydney, had just caught him holding her daughter’s clothes. Simon could recall the texture of the yellow denim overalls his thumb was resting on as clearly as the pain in the woman’s voice. She was screaming at him, sobbing and demanding to know why an android would do that — why would an android keep something hidden from her? Why would he care about her daughter’s things?

That’s when Simon couldn’t keep it back anymore. He had started crying, sitting the clothes aside and trying to comfort Jasmine’s mom. She was so upset and yet she had barely spent a handful of hours with Jasmine every week. Every time her daughter fussed or needed more than a kiss or kind word, she was handed off to Simon. Jasmine had died when she was with her parents, and Simon couldn’t help wondering why.

He just wanted to know what went wrong. Why had his little girl died? The moment he asked, the sadness in the woman’s eyes turned to rage.

Simon shivered and clung to Ralph, shaking his head.

“I just wanted to know how she died — WHY she died. She was o-only four,” he finally managed.

“Humans don’t tell us why,” Ralph muttered, more to himself than Simon probably. He sounded choked up, like maybe Simon crying made him want to cry, too.

There came a light touch to Simon’s back that wasn’t Ralph. The WR600 still had both arms around him, his head leaned against Simon’s as well. 

“I’m so sorry, Simon,” Kara whispered, sounding tearful too. The subject of losing children had to be far too close to her own experiences for comfort.

Simon looked up at her, not daring to move away from Ralph.

“I’m sorry,” he said quickly, clumsily freeing a hand from the blankets to wipe at his eyes. It was bad enough that poor Ralph had to see him crying. The last thing he wanted to do was make the rest of the room upset, especially with Alice being so sick.

Kara sat back and gave him some space, but he could still feel her sad gaze on him. Everyone had been through tragedy of some kind to make it this far, so why was he the only one making a scene?

Ralph sat on the edge of the lounge chair and kept an arm around Simon’s shoulders, hugging him and his blanket close. 

“No, Ralph is sorry,” he insisted heavily. “He didn’t mean to make you think about it. He’s sorry.”

“It’s not your fault either, Ralph,” Kara said, glancing between the two of them. She looked at Simon differently now, like they were the same. They really did have a lot in common.

“It was no one’s fault,” Simon told them. “I’m sure it was an accident. I just wanted to tell Sydney about everything I loved about Jasmine.” He smiled, even though he couldn’t keep the tears from his eyes. “She really loved building things. We had made a little town together out of blocks. She called it ‘Jazzy and Si’s City.’”

“All the good humans seem to go to you,” Ralph said quietly, almost wistfully. “Mandy, and Jazzy.”

Kara glanced over at Alice on the other side of the fire barrel, nestled in Luther’s arms asleep. Sumo sat with his big head resting on the TR400’s knee, snoring softly as well. She turned back to Simon and offered him a sad smile. 

“It sounds like she was very smart, and very sweet. I don’t know if I could go on if I lost Alice. You’re very brave, Simon, to do that.”

Ralph mumbled something under his breath and sniffled, leaning his head on Simon’s shoulder.

Simon just nodded, unwilling to admit that there had certainly been a time when he hadn’t wanted to go on. That was before Jericho, he told himself. Before Markus, Josh and North. Before the Revolution and New Jericho — and far before Ralph.

Steadying himself a bit, Simon focused on the arm around him, patting Ralph’s back gently.

“Thank you,” he told Ralph, then Kara. “I didn’t think I’d ever get the chance to be a parent, but I guess I have.”

“Ralph is sure she was happy with you,” Ralph offered, sitting up and making a halfhearted show of wiping at his eyes. “S-Simon, he didn’t mean to look at your memories. He’s not sure how it happened.” He lifted Simon’s free hand and squeezed his fingers gently with a thoughtful frown. “It felt like Ralph was there with you.”

Kara sat back, looking at the two of them.

“Ralph,” she began, then looked to Simon uncertainly. “Simon, I need to ask you something.”

Simon wasn’t sure exactly how the memory transfer happened, either. Connor seemed to think it was fairly normal, so it must have been something that he had done before during an investigation.

But it felt so personal to Simon, having someone share his memories. The idea that Connor could have been rooting around in his head was uncomfortable, but not Ralph. All Simon was worried about when Ralph was in his head was causing Ralph more sadness. He’d been through enough.

“Anything,” Simon said to Kara, taking Ralph’s hand in his. There was no avoiding it now though. Simon had somehow let Ralph find the one thing he wanted to keep secret.

Kara looked at their hands and offered a tentative smile.

“Are you two…together?”

Simon felt Ralph squeeze his hand tighter. He realized the WR600 was looking at him to see what he said.

Blushing, Simon glanced back at Ralph, trying to read his expression.

“Are we together?” He echoed, trying to keep his voice neutral. Looking back up at Kara, Simon just nodded shyly.

Ralph looked more surprised than Kara. He glanced quickly between her and Simon a few times, wide-eyed.

“We — we are?” He asked hopefully. “Ralph likes you, he really likes you, he just thought — there was Mandy, and — and you were so sad, and Ralph’s not— he’s not— n-nobody likes Ralph, you don’t mean it,” he said, all in a tumble. “…Do you?”

“He did just nod,” Kara told him, trying not to laugh. “You guys understand I’m not asking if you’re just friends, right?”

“Ralph, I…” Simon said, blushing all over again. “I wasn’t sure if you felt the same way.” He turned back to Kara, trying not to cry again. Ralph did feel the same way. Simon could hardly believe it. “There’s no one else that I want to spend my time with. Ralph’s wonderful.” The blond smiled at Ralph, blinking the tears from his eyes. “I think I love him.”

Ralph studied his expression in near astonishment. Then he smiled back, the same tiny grin he’d shared with Kara before, and shook his head.

“Ralph’s not wonderful, but he’s glad you think so. He thinks you’re the wonderful one, Simon. H-he’s not sure what to say.” He stuck a hand over his mouth suddenly, smothering a tiny giggle. “You LOVE me.”

Kara opened her mouth to add something, then closed it and just smiled as the WR600 threw his arms around Simon again. 

“Ralph loves you too, Simon. He — he wasn’t gonna say anything.”

“I love you, too, Ralph.” Hugging Ralph back, Simon lay his head on his shoulder. He wasn’t sure what else to say. Love was the right word, whether humans agreed or not.  


* * *

  
Markus had never made it to the basement. Nigel had cut him off on the stairs to let him know that both the police and a small army of firefighters were in the complex.

The deviant leader wasn’t impressed by their response time. If he and the other androids hadn’t tried to at least fight the fire earlier, the entire complex could have been on fire by the time the authorities arrived. Still, Markus politely thanked them for coming to help in the snow storm and waited on the front steps to the main house until the last police officer was wading back to his car.

“Should we have told them about the body?” Markus asked North and Nigel quietly. He had more faith in Hank than the entire precinct at that moment.

“If we did then we’d have to tell them about the other bodies,” North pointed out grimly, watching that last police car pull away down the snowy path through the gate. She was bundled up in a blanket to be able to stay out on the porch, same as Markus and Nigel. They could have lit a fire barrel, but right after this incident it wouldn’t have looked very good to the police. Besides, it was still very windy out here.

“We only had one WR600 here besides Ralph,” she added more quietly. “Cody. So it has to be him.”

Markus remembered naming him, though they rarely crossed paths.

Handing his blanket off to Nigel, Markus started down the front steps, his boots crunching lightly in the snow. It easily reached his knees as he made it to the gates of New Jericho. Markus was glad that Hank and Connor were there to talk to the cops, because he wasn’t sure he could keep a level head after the week they’d had.

Briefly forgetting that Hank was standing there, Markus pressed a kiss to Connor’s cheek. To his surprise, the look that Hank gave him was more curious than anything. Markus cleared his throat.

“We should all get back inside. The storm isn’t lightening up anytime soon.”

Connor smiled at him, apparently not worried about Hank’s reaction at all. He seemed pretty calm, considering.

“We really should. The police have all of the information about the fire, except of course the information about our killer and the body. They still found the traces of blue blood, but a traditional lab will take a week or more to process the samples.”

Taking his arm, Markus led him along back in the direction of the house and Hank fell in beside him.

It was nice that Connor was comfortable with their relationship around Hank, but Markus wasn’t. Not yet. He couldn’t help thinking that any human that saw them together was probably wondering if they felt the same way that humans did. If they were really in love.

Pushing the thought away, Markus focused on what they had to do next.

“We need to look for the killer. The storm covered any footprints, so we don’t know if they are here or not.”

Connor glanced at him as they walked, nodding. 

“Based on the fire temperature when we first arrived and the places the arson fires were set to collapse the building, this took place over an hour ago,” he said. “But you’re right. Up until now we’ve assumed the killer is attacking androids on the streets, but the first three victims — planned, not the PJ500 who intervened — were from New Jericho. Simon is, too, Ralph was not a planned target, and now Cody. We have enough victims that I should start to compare what they all may have had in common, aside from being androids from New Jericho.” 

He gestured to Hank, adding blandly, “First we should account for all humans in the complex. With everyone packed so closely, I should be able to access the memories of androids in each of the rooms, patch the video together, and account for anyone leaving any room in any of the houses. That gives us a time frame for who saw Cody last, and who didn’t have an alibi.”

He and Markus only had each other to account for their whereabouts, didn’t they? Connor was alone, even, however long it took him to go from Hank’s room to Markus’. The fire must have been set just about then. There was no way Markus could suspect Connor of doing this, but what if somebody else did?

Markus knew it wasn’t Connor. All he had to do was help the ex-detective piece together the pieces and they’d have their killer.

“If there were two killers and one came all the way here, then it’s very likely that the one that Ralph injured is dead.”

Stepping up onto the porch, Connor opened the front door and held it for Markus. 

“That fits the killer’s behavior, targeting a WR600 and making such a display of the body. This is personal now for them,” he agreed. “So I’ll look into any police reports or hospital files about bodies showing up in the area with wounds matching the device Ralph stabbed the attacker with. The killer may have buried or hidden the body, so it’s a long shot, but we might get lucky.”

Stepping through the door, Markus waited just inside.

“Hank, maybe you should call too? The more help we can get, the better. We might not have very much time.”

“I can call around, but the department isn’t very happy with me,” the old detective said with a chuckle, glancing down at his bruised knuckles.

“Right,” Markus sighed, looking around at the crowds of people in the dark. The candles sat out on the windowsill were beginning to burn low, casting long shadows over their worried faces.

If the killer was still in New Jericho, they had to find them.


	35. Inside

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, the writers aren't dead! Real Life (TM) has been a whirlwind of travel and changing living situations, but the dust is finally starting to settle, so we're returning to regular updates every other week. Thank you for reading our story, and for any comments you leave us -- we hope you enjoy chapter 35! ♥

It had been over an hour since Markus escorted them to Ralph and Simon’s room, and Kara was listening carefully to what was going on outside. There was a hushed kind of panic in the voices that passed by the door. Particles of smoke were still in the air after the fire, along with an unsettling melted plastic stench. At one point she thought she heard North talking, and at another she was sure she heard Connor. 

Nobody knocked on their door.

Kara kept calm, not wanting to scare Alice or to alarm Ralph. The WR600 was still distracted by the conversation he’d just had with Simon about their relationship status, so at least he wasn’t on high alert. It made Kara happy to see the two of them holding hands. Everyone deserved love. Ralph had been through a lot, and it sounded like Simon had too, but now they had each other.

Sometimes Kara wondered if she would ever find someone like that for herself. People in Canada tended to assume Luther was her husband, but the two of them were perfectly platonic. Friends as close as family, but it wasn’t a romantic kind of feeling. 

She glanced over at the TR400, who was talking quietly with Alice as they both petted Sumo. Luther didn’t talk that much about himself, but since coming to Canada they’d shared their adventures in getting jobs and going out into the world masquerading as humans. He was a loved one, but neither of them were IN love, and they both knew it.

Alice giggled with a pause in the conversation, then she nodded up to Luther.

“Maybe Tal would let me have one of the kittens. He told Mom he wanted them to have a good home, and WE have a good home,” the little girl pondered aloud, brushing her fingers in circles on Sumo’s fluffy exposed belly. The dog was snoring and seemed completely at ease, despite the smoky scent in the air.

A knock on the door made Sumo lift his head. Simon sat up a bit too, both arms still laying around Ralph.

“Yes?” He called toward the door.

“Hey, it’s Hank. Can I come in?”

“Of course.”

Ralph quickly hopped to his feet and went over to unblock the door, which he’d pushed the bookshelf back in front of after Markus left. He scrambled back as the door opened, retreating to stand near Simon again.

The ex-detective came into the room, a can of dog food in one hand and a delicately wrapped gift under his arm. He was dusting snow off the shoulders of his thick coat and shivering deeply.

“Dinnertime, Sumo,” he told the dog, coming over to where Sumo was laying by the barrel.

Ralph shuffled to stand on the other side of Simon’s chair, shaking his head. 

“Human? No, no, no…” He muttered, fidgeting nervously. Sensing trouble, Kara got to her feet and stepped closer to be near Simon, placing herself between the PL600’s chair and Hank. 

“Hank, we didn’t think you would mind if we moved Sumo to the room along with us,” she said nicely, smiling and resting a hand on Simon’s nearest shoulder. Half-turning, she gestured to him and Ralph (who looked about ready to grab a burning stick from the fire barrel and wave it at Hank if he took a step closer.) “You haven’t met Simon or Ralph yet, I don’t think. Ralph, Simon, this is Hank — he’s Connor’s father.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Simon greeted nicely.

“Yeah,” Hank told him with a nod, giving Ralph a long look. With a shrug to himself, he knelt down and opened the can of dog food for Sumo, dumping it unceremoniously onto a nearby loose board. He patted the big dog’s head as Sumo hurried to wolf down the pile of food. He must have been hungry. 

“Good boy,” Alice told the dog, rubbing his back. At least she didn’t seem bothered by Hank.

“I need to borrow him for a walk as soon as he’s done. It’ll just be for a few minutes — oh,” Hank held out the gift, lifting the tag on it. “Do any of you know a Nate around here? This old lady gave Connor this present and said to give it to an old CX100. I figured that there aren’t that many of those around, so maybe you’d seen one.”

Alice glanced up at Luther, who shook his head.

“I’m sorry, I don’t.”

Kara stepped up and reached out for the present. 

“I haven’t met a Nate yet, myself, but I could ask around and find out. I’m sure Tal or North knows, or Markus,” she said, smiling. It seemed the danger had passed, if Hank was relaxed enough to be walking the dog. Kara wanted to do something useful, and she wanted a chance to ask about the situation with the burnt down building without Alice overhearing it. “Maybe I could go with you when you walk Sumo?”

Ralph, meanwhile, leaned around Simon to peer at Hank suspiciously.

“You should stay here, Kara. It’s not safe.”

“Hank is one of the good humans, Ralph,” she assured the WR600. “He helped free the army of androids from CyberLife, and he took care of Alice when I was captured and she needed help, too.”

Ralph shot Hank a very critical look, wringing his hands. 

“He’s good, Ralph,” Simon chimed in, hugging the other android. “Kara will be okay. I promise.”

Hank seemed a little surprised that Simon would vouch for him, then he gave Kara a nod.

“You guys seem to know a lot about me,” he commented, handing Kara the present before clipping a leash onto Sumo’s collar. The dog was smacking his lips and licking his snout as he trotted after his owner. Hank waved to Ralph next. “Make sure you block the door back up. Just in case.”

Ralph jumped slightly at the wave, but fidgeted and nodded.

“Ralph will,” he said uneasily, hugging Simon with one arm. “Be…be careful, Kara.”

Kara smiled at him and nodded, then glanced down at Alice and Luther.

“I’ll be back soon,” she assured them. “Just stay warm and wait for me.” With that, she trailed after Hank as Sumo led him out the door. The plastic smell was much stronger out in the hallway, and the smoke. SHe had a bad feeling that had to do with the murdered android.

There were several people sitting along the hallway walls, clutching candles and talk quietly among themselves. They fell quiet as Hank and Kara passed, eyes locked on the ex-detective and his dog.

Sumo was unbothered by it all, panting happily as he made his way to the stairs.

“How’s Alice doing? You guys find all the parts you needed to repair her?” Hank asked as they started downstairs.

“They don’t have everything here that she needs,” Kara admitted quietly, glancing up at him. She did her best to muster a smile. “But with the new thirium pump and your help to keep her out of the cold, she’s stable now, at least. I know I said it already, but I can’t thank you enough for looking after her. If I lost her, I-I don’t know what I would do.”

She really didn’t. Alice was everything to Kara — her sweet, kind, compassionate little girl. During the revolution, despite all of the awful things they’d seen, Alice always wanted to help those in trouble, human or android.

“Welcome.” Hank nodded, his gaze growing distant.

The main room down the stairs was lit dimly by several burning barrels and rows of mostly melted candles along the front windows. Even though it was almost noon, the sky outside was gloomy and gray behind a constant flurry of snowflakes against the glass. 

“Kara, is everything alright?” Markus asked, stepping out of the hallway at the bottom of the steps. Kara could see Connor behind him, holding a Jerry’s arm.

“Hey, Markus,” Hank said as he tugged on Sumo’s leash to stop him. “Just the man I wanted to see.”

Markus gave him a curious look, glancing back to Kara.

“Is something wrong upstairs?”

Kara glanced back the way they had come, then focused on Markus again. 

“What’s the situation with the murdered WR600?” She asked, keeping her voice quiet. “Is Ralph really a target? Is anyone else?”

Markus moved closer to them, speaking aloud for Hank’s benefit.

“Judging by the evidence, and the way the killer put the dead WR600 on display, the blue blood vampire is most likely going after Ralph personally. We saw that there were two killers in Ralph’s memories from the attack on Simon, but that crime scene was wiped clean. We think one of the two were killed by Ralph in the attack, and the other one came here for revenge. Connor’s scanning memories now to find out who saw Cody last. Cody was the WR600,” he added sadly.

“Wow,” Hank growled, looking at Connor over Markus’ shoulder. “That’s…not what I wanted to talk to you about at all. Good to know, but I wanted to talk to you about Connor.”

“Connor?” Markus tensed, glancing back at the RK800. He slowly turned back to Hank, shaking his head. “It’ll have to wait, Hank. I promise we’ll talk as much as you want — AFTER we catch the killer.”

“Deal,” Hank agreed. “Now, do you know anybody named Nate?”

Markus sighed, checking on Connor again.

“I need to help Connor. He’s being a little…brash. Nate’s injured. It wasn’t him. We’ve already scanned his memory.”

“Is he a CX100?” Kara asked quickly. “It’s not about the case — a woman asked Hank and Connor to deliver a present to him if he’s here.” She couldn’t help at least a peek at Connor over Markus’ shoulder. ‘Brash’ was not how she would describe the polite, analytical android. Maybe he’d just had a bad day, though. He was here to investigate this killer, and they had claimed another victim right here in the complex.

“He IS a CX100. How did you know that?” Markus asked, gesturing across the room. “He’s in the room through the kitchen. I think it used to be a laundry room. It doesn’t have any windows. I’m surprised Connor didn’t say anything.”

“Yeah,” Hank told him, frowning off at Connor down the hall. After a long moment, he headed off toward the front door, Sumo padding along at his side.

Markus watched him go, frowning too.

“If you need anything else Kara, please let me know. If you can’t find me, find North. She’s staying here in the main house while Connor and I search. I’m sorry, but I need to get back to the investigation. Excuse me,” the deviant leader told her kindly, ducking away to head back to Connor.

Kara watched his retreating back thoughtfully.

She’d most certainly gotten the feeling earlier that Markus and Connor were a little closer than friends. Her instincts about these things seemed pretty accurate — she’d guessed two of her coworkers were dating before they said so, and then she’d been exactly right about Ralph and Simon. She got the same read off of Markus now as before, but Connor seemed to be utterly ignoring him. Maybe he was just very focused on his work. 

Hugging the little gift box, Kara sighed and made her way to the kitchen. There were bigger things to worry about than who was in love with who right now. She wondered if Markus would tell Ralph about being a direct target of the killer. Who knew how he would react to that…

The kitchen was as packed as everywhere else. Makeshift cots were set up along the walls with androids laying on them. There were people on the counters too, and even with blankets over them all she could see that several were missing legs.

Among them was the bulky MC500 that had been rushed upstairs to help with Simon. He was laying on the counter, but his hands were stained blue with fresh thirium from the ST300 he was working on. 

“Alright, Fern, I think that new legs should attach now. I got all of the broken pieces out,” he told his patient. “As soon as this storm blows by, we should be able to get you walking again.” He smiled warmly at her and shifted to wipe his hands on a rag, noticing Kara. “You’re the one with the little girl, right? How is she?”

Kara stepped closer, smiling warmly at him. 

“She’s tired a lot, but as long as we keep her warm, she’ll be okay. You’ve Oliver, right? I heard that you helped save Simon. The complex is very lucky to have your help.”

The MC500 grinned and sat up on the counter.

“Well, I’d be more useful if I had proper tools and a nurse to help me, but thank you.” Oliver pushed himself off the edge of the counter, dropping himself carefully to the floor. His legs were melted off up to his thigh, but he seemed perfectly capable of getting around with just his arms. He checked on a badly damaged TE900 on the floor, opening the panel on his stomach and frowning at the tubes inside. He glanced up at Kara, realizing that she was still there. “Oh, I’m so sorry. Did you need anything else?”

“Oh, no, don’t let me interrupt your work!” Kara said quickly, waving a hand. She paused, glancing over at the other door in the kitchen. It had to lead to this laundry room Markus had mentioned, which was probably in a hallway of some kind. “Well, there might be one thing. Markus told me that I could find a damaged CX100 near here, Nate. Is he a patient of yours, is he well enough to be able to talk to me?”

“Nate’s in the back room,” Oliver told her, pointing toward the back door out of the kitchen. “He’s damaged pretty badly, but he should be well enough to hold a conversation.”

“Thank you, Oliver,” Kara smiled at him, starting that way. Maybe hearing that his human companion still missed him might cheer Nate up. That, or…what if the woman remembered their situation much different than her old android did? 

Kara looked down at the brightly wrapped little present and sighed. It was hard to imagine that someone who would wrap a Christmas gift for an android could mistreat them. 

There was a little rustle, and she glanced that way down the hallway. It had a door on the right side and then led out into the backyard, and there were several storage closets lining the way. The back door must not be sealed that well — it was probably the storm rustling things around. It was pretty windy outside. Still, knowing the killer had been so close at the other house made every little sound ominous. She stepped quickly to the hallway door and moved through, closing it behind her immediately.

“Hello?” She asked the room beyond. “Is Nate here?”

The room didn’t have any windows and the air was heavy with smoke from the fire barrel in the middle. There was a ring of androids settled on the floor, huddled together against the cold. All of them had patches of base white skin showing on their faces.

A blond man who looked like Simon sat up from the crowd, blue eyes on Kara. His skin rippled around his cheek and mouth as he spoke.

“I’m Nate,” he offered quietly.

She stepped quickly over to kneel next to him, smiling

“Hello, Nate, my name is Kara. I don’t want to trouble you if you had a bad experience before the revolution, but I…well, I think this is meant for you.” She held out the little present, looking at it worriedly. “Did you live with an old woman before?”

“Brianna?” He asked, leaning forward to take the present. Tearing the wrapping with shaky hands, Nate opened the box to look inside. He lifted a folded note up first, reading it. 

Tears sparkled in his eyes as he lifted a thick knitted red and green scarf out of the box next. He hugged it against his face, closing his eyes for a moment.

“She remembered. Thank you so much.” Nate put a weak hand on Kara’s shoulder, a smile on his worn face. “If you see her again, please tell her Merry Christmas for me.”

It was touching to see how much it meant to him. Kara was glad he had been in New Jericho after all. 

She smiled and patted his hand on her shoulder.

“I promise I will. You know that you could talk to her again if you wanted, don’t you? You must know her full name and address, right?” It was rare to hear about an android who wanted to see their human owner again after being free, but she had a feeling this Brianna hadn’t really treated Nate like property in the first place. Androids had certainly been companions for many elderly humans before the revolution.

“I didn’t want her to see me like t-this,” Nate told her sadly, holding a hand up beside his face. “She’d be upset.” He slowly wrapped the scarf around his neck, playing with the ends. He looked up at Kara and nodded. “Maybe I could j-just call.”

“I’m sure she would love that. You rest and stay warm, okay? I’ll mention to Markus that you might like to use the phone sometime soon,” Kara promised, patting his hand again before standing. She gave all of the other androids in the room a nod as well, adding a few pieces of wood to their fire barrel since most appeared too damaged to be able to do it themselves, and then stepped back out into the hallway.

Brianna sounded like a sweet old woman. Nate had been one of the lucky ones. Memories of her and Alice living with Todd tried to clarify, and she shoved them aside, shaking her head. They were free now, they were better off. 

There came the rustle again. She turned and started quickly down the hallway toward the kitchen, telling herself that it really was just the wind. 

Then there was a loud CLUNK.

Whirling around, Kara stared in alarm at one of the storage closets rocking slightly in place, the CLUNK coming again from inside. She almost bolted for the kitchen, but instead ended up running toward the commotion. 

There was blood dripping out of the bottom of the closet door — BLUE blood.


End file.
